Climate of Puerto Rico

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Puerto Rico is located in the tropical zone of the world from a global perspective. The climate is best described as Tropical Marine with regular temperature of 80°F to 90°F (26°C and 31°C) along the coasts and between 73°F and 78°F (22°C and 25°C) in the interior. The temperature in the south is usually a few degrees higher than the north. Temperatures in the central interior mountains are always cooler than the rest of the island. Puerto Rico enjoys warm and sunny days most of the year. The trade winds that come from east to west across the island from the Atlantic bring most of the rain that falls from May to November. Depending on their intensity and speed, these winds can produce little more than a few clouds to several days of cloudy and rainy weather. But don’t be fooled, you never know when it’s going to rain. In Puerto Rico most showers last around 5-20 minutes. Even when Puerto Rico gets lots of rain it will usually rain on and off. The mountains of the Cordillera Central are the main cause of the variations in the rainfall and temperature that occur over only very short distances in Puerto Rico, particularly in inland areas. The mountains can also cause wide variation in local wind speed and direction due to their sheltering and channeling effects. Climate in Puerto Rico has its variations from area to area because of these winds. El Yunque Rain Forest averages 180 inches of rainfall yearly while the city of Ponce (southern part of the island) averages 40 inches a year. Unfortunately, Puerto Rico also has a Hurricane and Tropical Storm season that it shares with the rest of the Caribbean and North Atlantic. The National Weather Service maintains a totally staffed forecast office in San Juan. Many sites on the Internet are available containing Climate, Atmosphere and complete weather planning data drawn from many other sites.