Weather

Weather: Rainfall for St. Thomas

Weather in the Virgin Islands can be both exciting and wonderful.  Each of the Virgin Islands experience their own rainfall, though the variation over a year is less than 8 inches.  It should come as no surprise heavy rains tend to occur during Hurricane Season. 

Hurricane Season in the Virgin Islands

A Hurricane is one type of a weather system defined as a Tropical Cyclone, the other types of Cyclones are Tropical Depressions, Tropical Storms, and Major Hurricanes.  It is a structured storm of winds, clouds, rain and thunder which rotates counter-clockwise in the Northern Hemisphere.  Storms follow a defined naming convention allowing both ease of reference on the one hand, and of course to have the name retired from use when the storm has resulted in severe damage. 

Hurricane season runs typically from June 1st through November 30th. In early January 1954 Hurricane Alice went through the Leeward Islands, which includes the US Virgin Islands.  While the above graphic recognizes Alice, generally December through May sees no hurricanes, nor have there been hurricanes reported in June.  This makes the US Virgin Islands a great destination during the cold winter months for Americans, and an option for Spring Break.  

During Hurricane Season, the National Hurricane Center provides the most complete information on storms.  Residents of the US Virgin Islands have been through enough hurricanes to be well versed in preparedness, travellers ought to review the NOAA guide for tropical cyclones which can be found here.