Weather
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Weather
Section
6
STRENGTHENING
ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION
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Weather
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THE WEATHER
Because weather and climate play such a significant part in human activity, providing timely and accurate weather
warnings and forecasts is one of the most important functions of every national meteorological service. This function
also gets the most attention from decision makers and the public. Indeed, because of the significant improvement in
safety, with protection of life and property through timely and accurate weather information, forecasts and climatological
data, national governments worldwide view weather services as public goods and continue to finance and support them.
The National Weather Service
having wind speeds greater than 110 mph. In 2001, two
major hurricanes, Iris and Michelle, affected the Caribbean,
with Iris producing 48 deaths in the region and Michelle
causing significant damage in the Bahamas. The Cayman
Islands was yet again spared catastrophic impacts, though
Michelle caused significant damage on the western shores
of Grand Cayman.
The Cayman Islands National Weather Services provides
information on a daily basis to meet a broad spectrum of
needs, such as:
• early warning for natural disaster mitigation (for the
Cayman Islands: hurricanes, thunderstorms, floodproducing rain);
• information on changes in weather to help the public
in planning daily personal and social activities; and
• advice for sustaining and improving environmental
quality.
Day-to-day seasonal and climate forecasts and other
products are in demand in weather-sensitive economic
sectors, such as agriculture, fisheries, energy and water
resource management, recreation and tourism, and
construction. Government policy makers, international
agencies and other individuals use products and services
from the weather service in support of such areas as health,
urban design and transport, insurance and commerce and
trade.
Weather Statistics
The average temperature for the year was 28.0 deg. C/ 82.4
deg. F. The highest monthly recorded was 29.7 deg. C/85.4
deg. F during August, with the lowest monthly average
of 24.9 deg. C/76.8 deg. F occurring in the month of
January
Highest recorded temperature — 34.4 deg. C/ 94.0
deg. F — occurred on 4 July, 13 August and 19 September.
Lowest recorded was 17.2 deg. C/ 63.0 deg. F on 7 January.
The warmest day was 18 August, with an average of
31.4 deg. C/ 88.5 deg. F. August was the warmest month
with an average temperature of 30.4 deg. C/ 86.7 deg. F.
The coolest day was 24 January with an average of 21.7
deg. C/ 71.0 deg. F. January was the coolest month with
an average temperature of 24.5 deg. C/ 76.1 deg. F.
Total rainfall for the year was 1,404.3 mm/ 55.29 ins.,
which was 12.49 inches lower than normal. The wettest
month was October, with 347.5 mm/ 13.7 ins, which
represents the new record total for that month. The driest
Hurricane Season
The year 2001 was an active season, with 15 named storms
of which nine became hurricanes — four major ones, with
wind speeds of 110 mph or greater. Long-term averages
call for ten named storms of which six are hurricanes —
three major, that is, classified in Category 3 and higher, or
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Weather
month was March, with only 5.7 mm/
0.22 ins. recorded, which also represents
a new record total for that month. The
most rainfall in a 24-hour period was
142.3 mm/ 5.6 ins., on 14th May.
The highest monthly rainfall since
records have been kept was registered in
July 1970 — totaling 671.8 mm/ 26.45 ins.
Lowest on record — 0.3 mm/ 0.01 ins. —
occurred in February 1957 and 1962, and
March 1973.
The highest annual rainfall was
recorded in 1979, when the year’s
precipitation totaled 2112.5 mm/ 84.50
ins. The lowest annual rainfall was
recorded in 1997, amounting to 905.1
mm/ 35.61 ins.
There were 218 days free of rainfall,
and thunder occurred on 44 days.
The average barometric pressure for
the year was 29.97 ins/ 1015.1 MB. The
highest pressure was 1022.8 Mb/ 30.20
ins., on 25 January and 21 April; the
lowest, 1001.3 Mb/ 29.56 ins., occurred
on 4 November.
The average wind for the year was
from the east, at 10 kts. January was the
windiest month.
Annual average humidity was 78%,
with the highest monthly average of 82%
recorded in October and the lowest of
73% in March. The most humid day was
31 October with a very muggy average of
96%, while 6 March, averaging 53%, was
the lowest.
There were 12 sunny, 247 partly cloudy
days, and 106 cloudy days, as compared to
a long-term average of 76 sunny, 229 partly
cloudy and 60 cloudy days.
2001
30-Y R A V E R A G E
8 9 .0
86.7
8 7.0
86.0
86.1
86.0
8 5.0
84.0
83.9
8 3 .0
82.5
83.6
83.3
83.1
81.7
81.7
81.8
8 1.0
80.0
79.8
80.7
80.0
80.7
80.0
79 .0
78.4
78.7
77.3
77.2
77.0
76.1
75.0
JA N .
FEB .
M AR.
A PR .
M AY.
JU N .
JU L.
AUG.
SEPT.
O C T.
Months
60
76
12
106
247
229
SUN N Y
C LD S /S U N M IX
C LD Y
Seldom seen - but how we depend on their presence...Cayman
Islands National Weather Service staff pose for a rare photo.
Staffing and Training
The staff comprises three fully trained
observers, five trained meteorological
technicians and four trained forecasters.
Services operate 17 hours daily, with 24hour service envisaged in the near future.
Rapid advances in information and
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Weather
Washington, DC, and then into a worldwide network, for
the purpose of planning aeronautical flights. The data is
also fed into numerical weather prediction models, which
in turn use the data to produce large-scale forecast maps
as well as to assist with predictions of flooding, drought
and other severe weather.
The local service’s operations include an upper-air
station, surface weather observations, and climatology
and weather forecasting activities. The service now has at
its disposal one of the most advanced International satellite
communication systems (ISCS), for the purpose of
disseminating weather observations to the regional centre
in Washington and on to the rest of the world. This system
also provides charts, facsimile reports and various data
from alphanumeric and numerical weather prediction
models. Another valuable piece of equipment is a highresolution satellite system that continuously receives and
displays visible and infrared satellite pictures at
resolutions of one and four kilometres, respectively. This
satellite system is extremely valuable in the monitoring
of developing weather systems.
communication technology today have led to continuous
improvements and refinement in weather forecasting
and observing. As a result, regular training of staff is
necessary to stay abreast of the latest technological
developments, techniques and research. In February
2001, an officer completed his class III climatology and
hydrology training at the Caribbean Institute of
Meteorology and Hydrology in Barbados. A second officer
was scheduled to attend a class II forecasters course at the
institute in April 2002.
Administration and Equipment
The Cayman Islands Weather Service, under the
administration of the Civil Aviation Authority, is
responsible for the monitoring of meteorological events
and provision of meteorological information. A good
example of this would be the upper-air station providing
critical hurricane forecasting and tracking information to
the National Hurricane Center in Miami, Florida. The
weather observations from the service are sent to
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