From The National Weather Service

VERY HOT DRY 2016

Rainfall data collected at the Owen Roberts International Airport for 2016 by the Cayman Islands National Weather Service was a very dry 27.98 inches. This total represents the driest year on our records that go back to the 1950’s with the previous record being 35.61 inches in 1997. This normal based on a 30 year average rainfall total is 56.2 inches. January 2016 was the only month of the year where measured rainfall in 2016 was greater then what is expected based on the 30 year average.

Please see data and graph below

The low rainfall totals in the early year dry season (January to April) is not surprising as the few cold fronts that passed through the area produced only limited rainfall. Mid May is the usual start of the rainy season however this year it was limited to two rainy days that produced just below 2 inches of rainfall and only 3.04 inches for the month. Our records indicate that the pattern of low rainfall totals continued through the summer wet season leaving us with very high monthly deficits notably in September through November when deficit numbers were -4.87, -3.72 and -5.89 inches respectively.

Please see chart below for monthly deficits in rainfall

Evaluation of data from Cayman Brac rainfall data indicates that their annual rainfall total was 37.98 inches or 4.14 inches above their long term average of 33.84 inches. Note that there long term rainfall averages are based on data from 2006.

The second part of the weather analysis indicates that it was also a very warm year. The average temperature for 2016 was 28.4 C 83.1 F or 1.3 F above the 30 year average of 81.8 F. The all time record is 83.2 F in 2002/2003.

Below is the temperature graph for 2016.

Annual temperatures continue to rise. The annual temperature pattern over the past 30 years is shown below.

Data from Cayman Brac indicates a similar pattern with the annual average temperature of 28.8 C 83.9 F or 0.3 F above the long term average of 28.7 C 83.6 F. Temperatures have increased since 2012.

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