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Caribbean weather - Weather systems in the tropics

by Mr. Horace Burton, Chief Meteorologist, Caribbean Institute for Meteorology and Hydrology (CIMH).

Introduction

In the middle and high latitudes the weather undergoes continuous variations, determined by the passage of fronts and cyclones. In the tropics, the region of the earth between Tropic of Cancer and the Tropic Capricorn, the variability of the weather is much less and, except on infrequent occasions, the circulation pattern on any day departs very little from the average for the season. Nevertheless, these small departures produce significant variations in the weather of this region of the globe.

In tropics, the large-scale climate is controlled by the sun which is never far away from the zenith. The large-scale circulation features which control the weather are the Equatorial low, which is the source of rising motion and unstable weather conditions, and the Subtropical high, which is the source of sinking motion and stable weather conditions. The result of variation in the location of these two systems is two broad seasons - a wet season and a dry season. The wet season normally falls in the ‘summer’ months with a number of weather systems responsible for producing the rainfall. Over the Caribbean region, which lies within the tropical belt, these weather systems include the Intertropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ), Waves and Tropical Cyclones (Hurricanes). 

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