Country Guide

Jamaica is one of the larger of the West Indian islands. It is situated west of Haiti and south of Cuba, and has an area of 11,500 sq km/4,400 sq mi, about the size of the state of Connecticut.

It is one of the more mountains islands of the Caribbean, with the highest peaks of the Blue Mountains reaching over 2,300 m/7,500 ft.

The northern slopes of these mountains may have up to 5,000 mm/200 in of rain a year as compared with about 750 mm/30 in on the drier, sheltered south coast (see the table for Kingston).

In spite of the low annual rainfall, the south coast has experienced as much as 250 mm/10 in or more in 24 hours during the passage of a hurricane.