Carinne

I am looking to get married in St. Lucia at the Windjammer on July 23 2010. I have read that this is their rainy & tornado season. I have been to many places during the rainy season and it hasn't been bad. Anyone out there have experience on St. Lucia during this time of the year? Any advice as to whether this is a good time to go or not?

dominick2

The hurricane (not tornado -- big difference because you get four or five days warning that a hurricane is coming whereas you get almost no warning that a tornado is on the way) season starts in June. However, hurricanes in St. Lucia are very rare, but not completely unheard of, in July. (A couple years ago, Hurricane Dean hit St. Lucia in the middle of August.) July is in the rainy season. During the rainy season, there is a 50-50 chance that you will get a shower at some point during the day each day. Usually the showers last less than an hour. Occasionally, but not often, it will rain on and off for a full day. Finally, it can get pretty hot in July. You usually get a nice breeze but, if there is a tropical disturbance in the Atlantic, the wind sometimes dies for a couple of days straight. When that happens, I wouldn't want to stay in a room that didn't have air conditioning.

Other people might disagree, but I wouldn't hesitate to go to St. Lucia in the summer.

RoamsAround

Agree with dominick2 - tornados are almost unheard of in St. Lucia and hurricanes are very rare during the month of July, in fact since 1855 there have only been 4 hurricanes that have struck St. Lucia during the month of July.

As for rain, well, that's a different matter. You are planning to visit a lush island in the tropics during the summer. That's the time of year whenthere are likely to be showers. It will probably rain somewhere on the island for sometime almost every day. These ubiquitious tropical showers are, for the most part, fast moving, widely scatter, very brief (lasting minutes rather than hours) and very localized. They are more likely to occur up in the mountains and rain forests (hence the name) ather than in the low lands near the shore. It is not unusual for it to be raining in one area and there be bright sun 1/4 mile away. St. Lucia is a fairly large island so some parts can get rain while others remain parched and dry.

If it happens to rain where you are you have several choices: 1) You can go swimming as you'll be wet anyway, you can take shelter under a nearby palm tree until the rain passes or you can go to the nearest beach bar and order a pina colada (or an exotic drink of your choice) but don't be surprised if the rain stops before the bartender finishes mixing your drink.

Enjoy yourself, go in July - leave the umbrella at home, bring plenty of sunblock - you'll need it.

bellaboo

I'm assuming the op actually meant "hurricane", not Tornado....Where exactly have you been during rainy season? Rainy season in Costa Rica might make St Lucia look like dry season, lol! In any event, it's mother nature & u literally have to expect the unexpected, it could def rain & u "could" have a hurricane.......

doug_stallings

The Caribbean doesn't really have a "rainy" season. As others have pointed out, hurricane season lasts from June through the end of November, and while there is a slightly larger percentage of rain falling in the summer months, you're just as likely to have a tropical downpour in January as July. It will definitely be hot, so be prepared for that, but I've been to the Caribbean many times in the summer, and I've been fortunate enough to never experience rain lasting more than a day. But if a tropical storm passes through, that can be 2 or more days of clouds, rain, and wind.

dominick2

I'm not sure about the rest of the Caribbean and I don't like to disagree with Doug, but St. Lucia definitely does have a "rainy season." Average monthly rainfall in July, August and September is at least three times what it is in January through April. However, as I said in my prior post, I wouldn't hesitate to go there in July.

doug_stallings

Well, Dominick, you should certainly disagree with me when I'm wrong. I'm not sure we would ultimately disagree about recommending or not recommending St. Lucia in July, but you're right about the rainfall amounts. Objectively speaking, the average rainfall is much higher in the summer months (and St. Lucia is also much rainier than, say, Barbados or St. Maarten).

However, I believe that the increase in average rainfall amounts is actually due to the torrents that fall in the typical isolated tropical fronts that pass through in the hurricane season. These are relatively rare, but because the amounts of rainfall are so intense, they skew the rainfall amounts up. The number of days with rain doesn't different that dramatically throughout the year regardless of where you are in the Caribbean, but you're absolutely correct that there is a spike in rainfall amounts in St. Lucia, Guadeloupe, Martinique, Dominica, and other mountainous islands that have a great deal of forest cover.

Your point is well taken.

bellaboo

We're off to Stonefield Estate Villas for Xmas....hoping it's still lush & green. I actually love a daily torrential downpour....as long as it doesn't last, lol!