After months of less than average rainfall, there has been a noticeable shift towards more typical rainy season conditions in Grand Cayman.
Over the past week, there has been rainfall – if even just a brief shower – almost every day on Grand Cayman and umbrellas are becoming a more common sight.
At this time of year, conditions become more conducive for rainfall; warm sea surface temperatures, along with the warming of the land during the day creates atmospheric instability. Warm, moist air rises in the atmosphere quite rapidly, where it cools and condenses, often forming the cumulonimbus clouds that we typically associate with summer thunderstorms and rain over the Cayman Islands.
Another factor in the recent shift is a lessening of the Saharan dust layer.
Cayman Islands National Weather Service Chief Meteorologist Kerry Powery said, “We are also starting to see a decrease in the Saharan dust layer in the atmosphere across the Caribbean region, and the dust tends to create drier conditions.”
He added that is typical, with the Saharan dust layer tending to peak at the end of July or towards the middle of August and then declining. “This allows for more moist atmospheric conditions, which in turn can lead to tropical waves bringing more rainfall to the Caribbean region,” he said.
The traditional Cayman rainy season begins in May and runs through to the end of November, but the months of May and June this year brought significantly less rainfall than the 30-year average to both Grand Cayman and the Sister Islands.
Statistics posted on the Cayman Islands National Weather Service website show that between December 2024 and April of this year, 27% less rain was recorded on Grand Cayman compared to the statistical average; only 1.1 inches of rain was recorded in May (compared to the 5.9-inch statistical average); and in June, only 3.2 inches of rain was recorded (compared to the 6.3-inch statistical average).
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