How is Caribbean in September?
 

We're planning a vacation for second week in September and wonder what kind of whether to expect. Heard of any hurricanes brewing? should we go to one area of Caribbean because it has better weather during the month of September than other islands?

We've been to St. John the end of July/first of August a few years ago and it was at the end of their "season" so things were slow and fewer activities than our typical times (June) we visit. It was decidedly muggier and more humid, so we vowed to not go back in August. Thing is, we can only work our vacation this year in September, and I honestly would rather go to the Caribbean than to Hawaii anyway.

Repeat travelers to this region in September - please respond!

many thanks to you all

We have been to the Caribbean several times at that time of year. The further south you go - the better chance of good, consistent weather. We had very nice weather in Barbados. Aruba, Curacao and Bonaire and probably also good bets.

That said, we went to Jamaica last year at the tail end of hurricane Lily (late September) - and had two blustery, rainy days and the remaining 7 were absolutely perfect. It really is hit and miss. We actually enjoyed the rain - did some reading, met some people at the resort, played games....alot of fun.

Predicting the weather in mid September is a crapshoot. On a per week basis the largest number of hurricanes occur during weeks 1 and 2 of September.
As noted by John, going south to Aruba/Bonaire/Curacao is the best way to improve your odds. But many people choose to vacation during hurricane season regardless of the risk due to the lower rates. It's all a matter of risk tolerance.

Had great weather last September in Aruba!

Been there in September 3 times. Didn't experiance any real bad weather. Some evenings of rain, but days were sunny. Showers for an hour or two then sunny again. We were in St. John, St. Martin all of the visits. Would go again in September, and in fact will go in early October next year. Rates are also great then.

The historical PEAK of hurricane season is the first week of September, and there's a bell-shaped curve on either side before and after that date.
We used to travel to the Caribbean over Labor Day week for 7 years.
We had so many very close calls - and quite a few days ruined by hurricanes in the vicinity - we now go in late Oct. early Nov. and have never had a problem then.
One year on St Lucia, we had three named storms come through while we were there, part of the resort was destroyed, and the water was very rough for days afterward.
No more diving, no more swimming, and no more boat trips.

This link

http://www.stormcarib.com/climatology/weekly.htm

will take you to a site that shows the likelihood of hurricanes for different regions and islands of the Caribbean by week. Just be careful to look at the scales (on the left side of each graph) because they aren't consistent for all graphs.

If you don't get hit with a Tropical Storm it's wonderful. The water is like a bath. I'm headed down there this Saturday. We were originally going to go this week. Looks like we dodged a bullet as the island was his with a Tropical Storm.

Go to stormcarib.com...a few days till September and it shows. It is the worst time of the year to go. There is a Tropical Depression on the way...they are still tracking it and there are widespread clouds/rain/thunderstorms over the caribbean sea. Not the best time to visit, you may not get hit with a full blown hurricane but the weather may be crappy.

I look at it this way, I can be at home in the same crap-shoot weather and have a great time, but why spend hard earned $$, take vacation time to go to the islands and have it be "iffy". I would much rather wait a few weeks till the weather calms down and resorts/restaurants etc re-open for the season. The last thing I want to worry about on vacation is the weather... the few bucks you save is definately not worth it. If you can put off your vacation till November, you still have the same rates and the weather is much more stable. Still no crowds and everything hs re-opened for the season.