kcopen

So I've been tracking the weather forcasts for St. Thomas and St. John leading up to our trip this saturday in Yahoo weather. For the last month the forcast has been the same every day: Rain. The forcast for the upcoming week is the same: Rain every day.

I've been stressing out about it and reading the forum here for people's comments who have been down there recently and no one has mentioned anything about a lot of rain on their trips, quite the contrary a lot of people have said the weather was great.

My question is, how accurate are these online weather forcasts? I'm having grim visions of our very expensive vacation that we've been planning for a long time turning into us sitting in our hotel room at the Ritz-Carlton on St. Thomas for 7 days gazing out into a warm rain.

dominick2

While it is possible that you will get a lot of rain, I wouldn't stress out if I were you. The truth is that, on most islands, the weather forecast is "chance of showers" practically every day. The reason is that, except for places like Aruba, most Caribbean islands get at least some rain every other day or so, on average. However, the rain usually only lasts for a little while and is then followed by clear skies.

nanorran

don't pay any attention to the Yahoo weather. We went to Turks and Caicos Nov 17-22 and I looked everyday in advance. Everyday it had clouds and showers often no sun. Like you I was stressing. But while some days we had some heavier clouds in did not rain everyday and there was some rain during the night but when it rained during day and it wasn't everyday it sometimes lasted 10 minutes at most. We actually saw a couple rainbows even a double one as when it did rain in day sometimes it was half sunny or blue sky and then just darker clouds where it was raining.
We have encountered this type of pre-trip weather forecast on most trips to Caribbean and they never panned out. We've had relatives at home look on Yahoo while we were away and they think we have horrible weather and it's gorgeous. Relax you'll be fine (unless of course a tropical depression or storm)

virginia

according to weather.noaa.gov at this moment it is clear, 84, with 47%humidity. according to weather.com it will be in the mid80's for the next 10 days with 20-30% CHANCE of showers except wed-fri when there is a 60% chance of showers. nanorran is right if it does rain it will likely last 10-15 mins. you are going to love the ritz. gorgeous pool. wonderful service. for a more casual dinner atmosphere and great food try down the street at the blue moon cafe at secret harbour

xkenx

December is into the drier season. Some days will have no rain, other days likely only brief tropical showers. Worry not, and enjoy!

Laby

So much of this depends upon having the right attitude about the weather. There are some things you can control about your vacation but not the weather. It could rain incessantly during the dry season and be sunny and dry during the rainy season. I remember seeing people get angry at the hotel clerks in Cancun on a vacation because it rained in March when it was supposed to be clear weather. If it rains, use that as an excuse to do visit St. Thomas's splendid shops. As Fodor's Guide says, "St. Thomas lives up to its billing as a shopper's paradise." Or you can explore your beautiful hotel with its famed bars and restaurants. Or you can simply use the opportunity for other romantic pleasures. Your vacation can still be wonderful and memorable no matter the weather (assuming, of course, that the weather avoids the extremes). But hopefully, you'll have seven gorgeous days of perfect weather so that you can enjoy the great outdoors to the full extent.

kcopen

Thanks for the comments everyone, I feel WAY more at ease, still can't believe i'm going to be in the Carribean tomorrow, it seems kinda unreal after many stressful weeks at work. I'll be sure to post a trip report

Tuxedocat

Hope you see this before you go. We came back from St. John about 2 weeks ago. The forecasts for our trip was rain everyday too. What you don't see is the fact that rain everyday doesn't mean all day. In fact, 60% chance of rain means 60% chance that there will be some rain some time during that time. These islands are pretty small and any weather systems move over them relatively quickly. For our rain everyday, we got a 30 minute shower once in the early morning or late at night. Never even noticed it. Don't stress... have the time of your life!

Carrybean

I'm in St. Thomas. It was rainy today. All the earlier part of the week was gorgeous.

Carola22

You should be aware that Caribbean forecasts are different from ours! When here it says "rain" it's very likely to rain just about continuously the whole day - you don't get to see the sun at all. Same with "cloudy" - here it means constant cloud cover and no sun all day. In the Caribbean, when rain is predicted it means that in the course of the day it may rain for some minutes. Same when the forecast says 'cloudy': it means that you may see some clouds is the sky, or it may cloud over for 10 minutes or so. All the rest of the time it will be sunny. So don't be thrown off by Caribbean weather forecasts - I speak from experience!

mnag

Just got back from the BVI and the weather was perfect. Some days it rained overnight but cleared up completely during the day. Sunshine and mid 80s