Dominica's Climate

The Commonwealth of Dominica is 48 km long and 24 km wide, with an area of 754 square kilometers. It is located between 15.12º and 15.39ºN Latitude and 61.14º and 61.29ºW Longitude. Dominica is an English speaking island situated in the Eastern Caribbean between the two French speaking islands of Guadeloupe and Martinique.

Dominica's location and size makes it vulnerable to features of the Tropical Atlantic. These include: the annual migration of the North Atlantic Subtropical High, the spreading of the Tropical Atlantic warm pool, the Easterly Trade Winds, tropical waves, depressions, storms and hurricanes. This results in Dominica being classified as having a Marine Tropical Climate, with very little seasonal variation. The island is very rugged with many of its mountain ranges located along it's center.

The Douglas-Charles Airport is located along the windward side (north east coast) and the Canefield Airport is located along the leeward side (south west coast) of the island. Due to their differences in location, the weather conditions experienced at the two stations on any given day can vary significantly. The weather pattern at Douglas-Charles is greatly influenced by moisture being driven by the Trade Winds across the Atlantic Ocean. Canefield is on the lee side of the island where it is sheltered from the direct effects of the Trade Winds, thus the reason for the much drier and warmer conditions that are observed at Canefield.

Moisture drifting with the Trade Winds across the Atlantic Ocean interacts with the topography and accounts for the abundance of the orographic rainfall the island receives year round.

The 'dry season' usually runs from December to May and the 'wet season' from June to November. May and December are transition months.