great I'm leaving for cooks on friday and it's going to rain
 

So my husband and I have waited months for our anniversary vacation to cook islands. Given that it is in Sept. (dry season) we were less worried about rain and interested in spending a lot of time in the sun. In addition, we scheduled to get scuba certified while we are there. However, I just checked the reports, and it looks like there will be thunderstroms on many of the days we are spending in rarotonga. I do not know what the weather will be like in aitutaki because weather.com does not go out more than 10 days. Does anyone know how the rain has been in the last few days? Has it been spotty then sunshine? or has it rained all day long? :(

Travellers to a tropical region should NEVER, REPEAT, NEVER look at weather.com before making a trip as they will always see predictions for rain and that will get the travellers very depressed for no really good reason. More often than not what you are seeing are referrences to short duration tropical showers that are so widely scattered you may never even encounter one. Don't fret about the weather, you can't do anything about it and it is doubtful rain will hamper any of your plans.

I don't even recommend that users look at weather.com for HAWAII - let alone a place as small and remote as the Cook Islands. It is notoriously wrong for Hawaii and of little to no use whatsoever for the Cooks. Unless you have a major storm system moving through, the fact is, the islands are just too small to accurately predict that a given cloud will just happen to be dropping rain as it passes by. In addition, often when it does rain, it happens only locally (often in hte interior mountains) while other areas are dry.

Don't get me wrong, you MIGHT get some rain, but chances are you'll be fine. I certainly would not let a weather forecast upset you. They are just TOO unreliable for the Cooks. Essentially worth next to nothing.

Ken

Yes I know... i did a stupid thing, but mainly I checked the weather because I will be getting scuba certified and I was worried about the water being cold. I wanted to see if I would need a wetsuit for the dives. Believe me, I wasn't even thinking about rain. Oh well, we'll just have to go and see. Thank you both of calming my nerves however. It is good to hear that the weather websites are often wrong and unpredictive.

Just a guess, but I would think the water may be a bit chilly and a wetsuit may be a decent idea. A lot depends on your particular level of tolerance.

Ken

We were on Rarotonga during two of the Cyclones in Feb/March. The rain wasn't a problem except for one day and that was during the Cyclone. I wouldn't worry about the weather, even when there is rain it is warm and doesn't last long. Hope you have a wonderful time.