How often does it rain in Jamaica in March?

Daily high temperatures are around 29°C, rarely falling below 27°C or exceeding 30°C.

Daily low temperatures are around 23°C, rarely falling below 22°C or exceeding 25°C.

For reference, on 2 August, the hottest day of the year, temperatures in Montego Bay typically range from 26°C to 32°C, while on 16 February, the coldest day of the year, they range from 23°C to 28°C.

The figure below shows you a compact characterization of the hourly average temperatures for the quarter of the year centered on March. The horizontal axis is the day, the vertical axis is the hour of the day, and the color is the average temperature for that hour and day.

Recife, Brazil (5,572 kilometres away) is the far-away foreign place with temperatures most similar to Montego Bay (view comparison).

Compare Montego Bay to another city:

Clouds

The month of March in Montego Bay experiences essentially constant cloud cover, with the percentage of time that the sky is overcast or mostly cloudy remaining about 22% throughout the month.

The clearest day of the month is 15 March, with clear, mostly clear, or partly cloudy conditions 80% of the time.

For reference, on 14 June, the cloudiest day of the year, the chance of overcast or mostly cloudy conditions is 80%, while on 30 January, the clearest day of the year, the chance of clear, mostly clear, or partly cloudy skies is 81%.

Precipitation

A wet day is one with at least 1 millimetre of liquid or liquid-equivalent precipitation. In Montego Bay, the chance of a wet day over the course of March is gradually increasing, starting the month at 14% and ending it at 17%.

For reference, the year's highest daily chance of a wet day is 54% on 28 September, and its lowest chance is 11% on 27 December.

Rainfall

To show variation within the month and not just the monthly total, we show the rainfall accumulated over a sliding 31-day period centered around each day.

The average sliding 31-day rainfall during March in Montego Bay is essentially constant, remaining about 25 millimetres throughout, and rarely exceeding 54 millimetres or falling below 2 millimetre.

Sun

Over the course of March in Montego Bay, the length of the day is increasing. From the start to the end of the month, the length of the day increases by 31 minutes, implying an average daily increase of 1 minute, 3 seconds, and weekly increase of 7 minutes, 20 seconds.

The shortest day of the month is 1 March, with 11 hours, 47 minutes of daylight and the longest day is 31 March, with 12 hours, 19 minutes of daylight.

The latest sunrise of the month in Montego Bay is 6:30 am on 1 March and the earliest sunrise is 24 minutes earlier at 6:06 am on 31 March.

The earliest sunset is 6:17 pm on 1 March and the latest sunset is 8 minutes later at 6:25 pm on 31 March.

Daylight saving time is not observed in Montego Bay during 2022.

For reference, on 21 June, the longest day of the year, the Sun rises at 5:36 am and sets 13 hours, 14 minutes later, at 6:50 pm, while on 21 December, the shortest day of the year, it rises at 6:39 am and sets 11 hours, 1 minute later, at 5:40 pm.

The figure below presents a compact representation of the sun's elevation (the angle of the sun above the horizon) and azimuth (its compass bearing) for every hour of every day in the reporting period. The horizontal axis is the day of the year and the vertical axis is the hour of the day. For a given day and hour of that day, the background color indicates the azimuth of the sun at that moment. The black isolines are contours of constant solar elevation.

Solar Elevation and Azimuth in March in Montego Bay

Solar Elevation and Azimuth in March in Montego Bay Mar.112233 4455667788991010111112121313141415 18181919202021212222232324242525262627272828292930303131 12 am12 am2 am2 am4 am4 am6 am6 am8 am8 am10 am10 am12 pm12 pm2 pm2 pm4 pm4 pm6 pm6 pm8 pm8 pm10 pm10 pm12 am12 amFeb.Apr.00101020202030304040505050606070800001010202030303040405050606070

northeastsouthwest

Solar elevation and azimuth over the course of March 2022. The black lines are lines of constant solar elevation (the angle of the sun above the horizon, in degrees). The background color fills indicate the azimuth (the compass bearing) of the sun. The lightly tinted areas at the boundaries of the cardinal compass points indicate the implied intermediate directions (northeast, southeast, southwest, and northwest).

Moon

The figure below presents a compact representation of key lunar data for March 2022. The horizontal axis is the day, the vertical axis is the hour of the day, and the colored areas indicate when the moon is above the horizon. The vertical gray bars (new Moons) and blue bars (full Moons) indicate key Moon phases. The label associated with each bar indicates the date and time that the phase is obtained, and the companion time labels indicate the rise and set times of the Moon for the nearest time interval in which the moon is above the horizon.

Humidity

We base the humidity comfort level on the dew point, as it determines whether perspiration will evaporate from the skin, thereby cooling the body. Lower dew points feel drier and higher dew points feel more humid. Unlike temperature, which typically varies significantly between night and day, dew point tends to change more slowly, so while the temperature may drop at night, a muggy day is typically followed by a muggy night.

The chance that a given day will be muggy in Montego Bay is gradually increasing during March, rising from 91% to 95% over the course of the month.

The lowest chance of a muggy day during March is 90% on 10 March.

For reference, on 10 August, the muggiest day of the year, there are muggy conditions 100% of the time, while on 8 March, the least muggy day of the year, there are muggy conditions 90% of the time.

Wind

This section discusses the wide-area hourly average wind vector (speed and direction) at 10 metres above the ground. The wind experienced at any given location is highly dependent on local topography and other factors, and instantaneous wind speed and direction vary more widely than hourly averages.

The average hourly wind speed in Montego Bay is decreasing during March, decreasing from 20.1 kilometres per hour to 18.0 kilometres per hour over the course of the month.

For reference, on 22 December, the windiest day of the year, the daily average wind speed is 21.7 kilometres per hour, while on 3 October, the calmest day of the year, the daily average wind speed is 15.2 kilometres per hour.

The hourly average wind direction in Montego Bay throughout March is predominantly from the east, with a peak proportion of 75% on 1 March.

Wind Direction in March in Montego Bay

Wind Direction in March in Montego BayMar.1122334455 667788991010111112121313141415181819192020212122222323242425252626272728282929303031310%100%20%80%40%60%60%40%80%20%100%0% Feb. Apr.eastnorthsouth

northeastsouthwest

The percentage of hours in which the mean wind direction is from each of the four cardinal wind directions, excluding hours in which the mean wind speed is less than 1.6 km/h. The lightly tinted areas at the boundaries are the percentage of hours spent in the implied intermediate directions (northeast, southeast, southwest, and northwest).

Water Temperature

Montego Bay is located near a large body of water (e.g., ocean, sea, or large lake). This section reports on the wide-area average surface temperature of that water.

The average surface water temperature in Montego Bay is essentially constant during March, remaining around 27°C throughout.

Growing Season

Definitions of the growing season vary throughout the world, but for the purposes of this report, we define it as the longest continuous period of non-freezing temperatures (≥ 0°C) in the year (the calendar year in the Northern Hemisphere, or from 1 July until 30 June in the Southern Hemisphere).

Temperatures in Montego Bay are sufficiently warm year round that it is not entirely meaningful to discuss the growing season in these terms. We nevertheless include the chart below as an illustration of the distribution of temperatures experienced throughout the year.

Growing degree days are a measure of yearly heat accumulation used to predict plant and animal development, and defined as the integral of warmth above a base temperature, discarding any excess above a maximum temperature. In this report, we use a base of 10°C and a cap of 30°C.

The average accumulated growing degree days in Montego Bay are rapidly increasing during March, increasing by 472°C, from 922°C to 1,393°C, over the course of the month.

Growing Degree Days in March in Montego Bay

Growing Degree Days in March in Montego BayMar. 112233445566778 8991010 11111212131314141518181919202021212222232324242525262627272828292930303131 900°C900°C1,000°C1,000°C1,100°C1,100°C1,200°C1,200°C1,300°C1,300°C1,400°C 1,400°CFeb. Apr.1 Mar.922°C1 Mar.922°C31 Mar.1,393°C31 Mar.1,393°C11 Mar.1,074°C11 Mar.1,074°C21 Mar.1,231°C21 Mar.1,231°C

The average growing degree days accumulated over the course of March, with 25th to 75th and 10th to 90th percentile bands.

Solar Energy

This section discusses the total daily incident shortwave solar energy reaching the surface of the ground over a wide area, taking full account of seasonal variations in the length of the day, the elevation of the Sun above the horizon, and absorption by clouds and other atmospheric constituents. Shortwave radiation includes visible light and ultraviolet radiation.

The average daily incident shortwave solar energy in Montego Bay is gradually increasing during March, rising by 0.7 kWh, from 6.3 kWh to 7.0 kWh, over the course of the month.

Topography

For the purposes of this report, the geographical coordinates of Montego Bay are 18.471 deg. latitude, -77.919 deg. longitude, and 12 m elevation.

The topography within 3 kilometres of Montego Bay contains significant variations in elevation, with a maximum elevation change of 217 metres and an average elevation above sea level of 40 metres. Within 16 kilometres contains significant variations in elevation (605 metres). Within 80 kilometres contains large variations in elevation (1,003 metres).

The area within 3 kilometres of Montego Bay is covered by grassland (30%), water (25%), cropland (22%), and trees (13%), within 16 kilometres by water (47%) and trees (26%), and within 80 kilometres by water (74%) and trees (13%).

Data Sources

This report illustrates the typical weather in Montego Bay, based on a statistical analysis of historical hourly weather reports and model reconstructions from 1 January 1980 to 31 December 2016.

Temperature and Dew Point

There are 2 weather stations near enough to contribute to our estimation of the temperature and dew point in Montego Bay.

For each station, the records are corrected for the elevation difference between that station and Montego Bay according to the International Standard Atmosphere , and by the relative change present in the MERRA-2 satellite-era reanalysis between the two locations.

The estimated value at Montego Bay is computed as the weighted average of the individual contributions from each station, with weights proportional to the inverse of the distance between Montego Bay and a given station.

The stations contributing to this reconstruction are:

• Sangster International Airport (MKJS, 100%, 3.7 km, north, -11 m elevation change)
• Norman Manley International Airport (MKJP, 0.5%, 134 km, southeast, -9 m elevation change)

To get a sense of how much these sources agree with each other, you can view a comparison of Montego Bay and the stations that contribute to our estimates of its temperature history and climate. Please note that each source's contribution is adjusted for elevation and the relative change present in the MERRA-2 data.

Other Data

All data relating to the Sun's position (e.g., sunrise and sunset) are computed using astronomical formulas from the book, Astronomical Algorithms 2nd Edition , by Jean Meeus.

All other weather data, including cloud cover, precipitation, wind speed and direction, and solar flux, come from NASA's MERRA-2 Modern-Era Retrospective Analysis . This reanalysis combines a variety of wide-area measurements in a state-of-the-art global meteorological model to reconstruct the hourly history of weather throughout the world on a 50-kilometer grid.

Land Use data comes from the Global Land Cover SHARE database , published by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations.

Elevation data comes from the Shuttle Radar Topography Mission (SRTM) , published by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory.

Names, locations, and time zones of places and some airports come from the GeoNames Geographical Database .

Time zones for airports and weather stations are provided by AskGeo.com .

Maps are © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Disclaimer

The information on this site is provided as is, without any assurances as to its accuracy or suitability for any purpose. Weather data is prone to errors, outages, and other defects. We assume no responsibility for any decisions made on the basis of the content presented on this site.

We draw particular cautious attention to our reliance on the MERRA-2 model-based reconstructions for a number of important data series. While having the tremendous advantages of temporal and spatial completeness, these reconstructions: (1) are based on computer models that may have model-based errors, (2) are coarsely sampled on a 50 km grid and are therefore unable to reconstruct the local variations of many microclimates, and (3) have particular difficulty with the weather in some coastal areas, especially small islands.

We further caution that our travel scores are only as good as the data that underpin them, that weather conditions at any given location and time are unpredictable and variable, and that the definition of the scores reflects a particular set of preferences that may not agree with those of any particular reader.

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