Rainfall in Roatan - the facts

[Dave C]

I recently returned from a vacation in Roatan during the period March 4-18. I’m glad to report that I experienced excellent weather. On two days there were rain showers in the morning, followed by sun in the afternoon. All the other days were sunny.

Climatology has always been a hobby of mine. I had read reports here and elsewhere on the web that the rainy season on Roatan was in the months of Oct-Jan. I read these reports often enough from experienced Roatan travelers that I believed they were probably true. Still, this perplexed me as I knew that in other places in the Caribbean, late summer – early fall tend to be rainiest. By the time December rolls around, things are usually starting to dry out and rain isn’t so much of a problem. Is the rainfall pattern really that different in Roatan?

While on the island, I purchased an excellent book entitled “Historical Geography of the Bay Islands, Honduras”, by William V. Davidson. I was especially interested to see that there was weather data in the book. To help others plan trips to the Bay Islands, I copied some of this data for mean rainfall:

Mean rainfall (inches) for Key Hole, Roatan, for the years 1970-1979:

Jan 5.8
Feb 6.2
Mar 1.6
Apr 2.4
May 1.7
Jun 2.1
Jul 3.1
Aug 4.1
Sep 7.1
Oct 17.6
Nov 20.6
Dec 12.9
Total 85.2

Mean rainfall (inches) for Guanaja (locality not specified, presumably Bonacca) for the years 1951-1960:

Jan 9.5
Feb 3.7
Mar 2.5
Apr 3.9
May 3.1
Jun 4.6
Jul 9.7
Aug 7.0
Sep 4.6
Oct 19.7
Nov 17.4
Dec 18.4
Total 105.1

Wow, it does rain a lot in Oct, Nov, and Dec! I don’t think I would want to plan a trip for those months. Jan and Feb things start to get better. On the other hand, March is the driest month of the year for both localites, which explains why I had such good weather during my stay.

 

[buceadora]

Thank you very much for posting that. I remember when I visited utils for the first time it was in July, and I had just spent a few weeks on the mainland getting poured on, without even a glimpse of blue sky. In Utila the weather was sunny & beautiful, with no rain for 2 weeks, but we could see the thunderclouds over mainland Honduras every morning. It seemed strange to me that Utila is so close to the mainland and the weather is so diferent. Anyway, since then I've always asked people who lived in the Bay Islands when their rainy season is, and the answers always seem completely random and different. There's the same variation with tourist websites & guidebooks. Anyway, thanks for the info. Does your book say anything about which are the calmests months for the ocean?

 

[Dave Zimmerly]

Be there in 14 days for my second time. How the heck am I going to concentrate at work till then?

Dave (aka "Squirt")