Aruba Weather Hazards
Know The Best Time To Travel

Aruba weather is quite unusual in the sense that it has the lowest rainfall out of any other Caribbean island.

This is beneficial to you since you don't want wet weather to disrupt your travel plans. However, the region has high water prices since water is quite scarce and these costs are passed onto you if you visit.

But don't let that scare you from coming to Aruba. The point is if you love beaches, then you'll love Aruba as the photo above represents what most of the western part of Aruba's coastline looks like.

Will it rain when you visit Aruba?

Here's two important tips for you to remember about Aruba's rainfall:

• Aruba can be broken up into three 4 month seasons.
  • The rainy season (October to January). All other Caribbean islands are wettest from May-October.
  • The transition period which provides Aruba with a little rainfall (June to September)
  • The dry season (February to May)

• The good thing about Aruba weather is that when it does rain, most of the rain conveniently falls late at night and is gone before sunrise. This is opposite to what happens in most areas of the Caribbean where the rain falls during the daylight hours.

But in this part of the world, there is normally large fluctuations in rainfall from one year to the next. Some years, like this year (2008) will record around 700 mm (27.6 inches), and next year may only receive 200 mm (7.9 inches).

The mainland region of Venezuela (which is only 60km away) generally dominates Aruba weather patterns by blocking some rain bearing clouds from reaching Aruba. This of course helps to reduce Aruba's rainfall.

During the dry season, a couple of months can go by when there is little if any rain. Sometimes the dry season is prolonged, and so Aruba misses out its so-called wet season and consequently drought conditions develop.

Most of the rain is associated with shower activity and local thunderstorms. Due to this there might be a lot of noise at night due to the thunder during the wet months. Since thunderstorms are localised, that means that areas only 5 km (3¼ miles) away from you may get no rain at all.

Should you worry about hurricanes?

The dry season (February to May) is normally the time when all the tourists arrive and for this reason it is the most expensive time to travel. However, it's quite safe to travel to Aruba outside the peak tourist season (which corresponds with the hurricane season) since Aruba is located on the far southern edge of the hurricane belt. In fact, the region around Aruba has the lowest frequency of hurricanes out of any region in the tropical West Atlantic. (They occur once every 100 years.) Hurricanes typically follow a path further to the north so if I was you, I would be travelling from June to December when it's cheaper knowing that the weather will still be great.

Other weather hazards

Severe Aruba weather is very unusual. Hailstorms and tornadoes are known to hit Aruba but it is not of frequent occurrence. The only other weather hazards you'll encounter while visiting Aruba will be sunburn, dehydration and heat exhaustion, all of these can be prevented.

So what's the temperatures like?

The temperature is continually very warm no matter the time of year you visit since it is only 1200 km (750 miles) north of the equator. Overnight temperature in winter only drop down to about 24°C (75°F) and the daytime maximum temperatures still hover around 29°C (84°F).

During the summer months (June, July and August), the minimum temperatures is around 26.5°C (80°F) and the maximum reaches around 32°C (90°F). Since the region is quite dry and there is little vegetation, Aruba can have higher temperatures than most other Caribbean islands. The temperature does rise to around 33-34°C quite often but temperatures exceeding 34°C are very rare.

Now that I've said that, I should point out that during summer, it'll will be extremely humid (70-80% relative humidity) during the day and near to 90% relative humidity at night. So you'll be sweating a lot and for this reason you must drink plenty of water (not alcohol). While the local Balashi beer does the job after a hot day, you still need to limit the amount you drink.

Are bushfires a problem in Aruba?

Since Aruba weather is subject to high temperatures and low amounts of rainfall, the region is occasionally affected by fire. Most of these fires are short-lived and are not normally large enough to endanger the coastal towns.

Windy Aruba is ideal for windsurfers

Like all the Caribbean islands, Aruba weather is dominated by moderately strong easterly winds, which hit the eastern side of Aruba with great force from May to August. The strongest winds affect Aruba during June.

The wind and waves have transformed the eastern coast into a series of cliffs and rocky outcrops as shown in the photo.

If you look carefully at this photo you will notice that the lack of trees, since the eastern side of Aruba is much windier than the western coastline.

The western side of Aruba (the most popular side) is known for its fantastic beaches. Although the winds aren't as strong on the western side of Aruba, it still is windy. You'll find out that when you get there. Furthermore, the sea surface temperatures are consistently above 25°C (77°F) and does reach 28°C (82°F) from July to November, which is great for you if you want to pursue windsurfing or other water activities.

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