Country Guide

This Caribbean island state, along with Barbados, Martinique, Grenada, and St Vincent, is one of the largest of the Windward Islands, the southern islands of the Lesser Antilles. The Windward Islands lie between 15°N and the coast of the South American continent.

Although still small, these larger islands in the Windward chain are hilly or mountainous and this tends to increase the rainfall above that of the small, flat islands in the chain.

The table for Castries, the capital of St Lucia, shows that St Lucia with its higher mountains is wetter than Barbados around the year. The tables for Barbados and St Lucia reflect conditions on the west coasts of the islands, which are somewhat sheltered from the prevailing winds.

All months receive appreciable rain, but the heaviest rain is more likely to occur from July to November. This is the hurricane season and, although the most violent of these tropical storms may only strike a particular island every few years, less severe ones cause appreciable rainfall over quite a wide area.

Temperature, humidity, and sunshine throughout the year are typical of the Caribbean area.