Is St. Thomas a good idea in August?
 

We're planning a 25th Anniversary trip (including son & daughter-in-laws) for late August. We've been looking at St. Thomas but the air fares seem awfully high compared with other areas. Trying to decide if St. Thomas is a good idea at all since it's hurricane season. We spent our honeymoon in Jamaica so that was a possibility too. Any suggestions would be welcome.

August is "Hurricane Season" throughout the Caribbean but there's no way anyone can predict NOW if any hurricanes will be "brewing" next August let alone which island or islands might be affected. If there are no storms in the area the "weather" for both St. Thomas and Jamaica will be typically tropical - mostly sunny, temperatures in the high 80's, occasional brief passing showers. The odds of a storm hitting a specific island during a specific week are small but they do happen. As the old saying goes "you pays your money, you takes your chances". FYI - the odds of a major storm striking ST. Thomas or Jamaica during August are about the same - small but possible.

Choose your island, make your plans and consider purchasing Trip Cancellation Insurance that will reimburse you for any non-refundable out of pocket expenses you might incur in the event you can't make the trip because of a storm (read the policy terms carefully to be sure you are getting the type of coverage you need).

I was there this past August and the weather worked out to be fine. We did get some rain on part of 2 out of 5 days but nothing to decrease the quality of the trip. We just rearranged some plans. The rain never lasted all day and was pretty mild. I would suggest you get trip insurance which would cover you in the event some serious weather happens. The benefit of going in the off season (especially August-September) is there are no crowds and the prices are better. The drawback is some favorite restaurants and businesses were also on summer break.

Thanks to both - will consider your suggestions.

PS - I have a tuxedocat too.

I've been to St. John in August/September at least 7 times and the weather is great. Rain a day or two at worst but never had a storm hit us. If you're really worried buy trip insurance.