The Travel Chronicle

JAMAICA · JULY · THE DRY POCKET IN MIDSUMMER Nine rain days. That is Kingston’s July in the 1991–2020 record, alongside 51 mm of rain for the entire month, and it explains why midsummer here is not the washout the calendar implies. The island splits down its spine: Montego Bay still counts 22 rain days … Read more

JAMAICA · JUNE · SEASON DAY ONE, SUMMER RATES The Atlantic hurricane season opens on June 1, and Jamaica’s summer pricing opens with it. The date does not mean storms arrive on schedule: NOAA puts the season’s busiest stretch in August, September and October, well past a June week. What follows the whistle is a … Read more

JAMAICA · MAY · THE FIRST WET SEASON The rain arrives in Jamaica before the storms do. May opens the island’s first wet season, and the Montego Bay gauge states it in one line: 24 days with measurable rain, 215 mm across the month. None of that has anything to do with hurricanes. The Atlantic … Read more

JAMAICA · APRIL · THE HIGH SEASON’S LAST FORTNIGHT April is the month Jamaica’s calendar changes hands. The high season that opened in mid-December closes in the middle of April, and the two halves of the month behave like separate trips: the first still prices and fills like February, the second starts letting go (est.). … Read more

JAMAICA · MARCH · DRY WEEKS, FULL BEACHES March is the dry season doing its best work, and the northern hemisphere knows it. Montego Bay runs 84°F days, 72°F nights and 12 rain days across the month, Kingston only 8, with 33 mm in the gauge. Then the American academic calendar lands on top of … Read more

JAMAICA · FEBRUARY · THE DRIEST MONTH ON THE CALENDAR The rain gauge tells the February story before anything else can. Montego Bay records 42 mm across 11 days this month and Kingston just 21 mm across 7, the lowest readings anywhere on the Jamaican year. That is why our 12-month verdict rates February Best … Read more