Country Guide

Puerto Rico is the most easterly of the large islands in the central Caribbean and is situated midway between Hispaniola and the Leeward Islands. It has an area of about 8,800 sq km/3,400 sq mi.

It is a mountainous island with the highest land rising to over 1,200 m/4,000 ft, so the centre and north coast of the island, exposed to the northeast trade winds, are rather wetter throughout the year than the sheltered south coast.

The table for San Juan, on the north coast, shows that here, as on the north coast of the Dominican Republic, the annual rainfall is well spread over the year and there is no dry season. This is rather unusual for the Caribbean and is a local effect of the moist trade winds being forced to rise over the mountains close to the coast.