Haiti Climate Patterns

Haiti is tropical, warm throughout the year, and far more varied than a country this size would suggest — because the mountains do the work that latitude does elsewhere.

The lowlands

Port-au-Prince and the coastal plains run between about 23 and 33°C year round, with high humidity. The hottest months are July and August; the most comfortable are December to February, when nights are genuinely pleasant.

The mountains

Above a thousand metres the picture changes completely. Kenscoff, Furcy and Seguin are cool enough for temperate crops, and night temperatures in the Massif de la Selle in January can approach freezing. This is why the elite built above the capital, and why anyone spending time in the highlands needs warm clothing that seems absurd at the airport.

Rainfall, and where it falls

Rain is unevenly distributed. The windward northern and southern slopes are wet, with over two thousand millimetres a year in places; the Gonâve basin and parts of the north-west sit in rain shadow and are semi-arid, with cactus and drought. Two rainy peaks, roughly April to June and August to November, bracket a drier midsummer.

Dust from the Sahara

Between June and August, plumes of Saharan dust cross the Atlantic and reach the Caribbean, hazing the sky, reddening sunsets and measurably worsening air quality for anyone with a respiratory condition. It also suppresses hurricane formation while it is present, which is the one useful thing about it.

Hurricanes

The season runs from June to November, with the greatest risk in September and October. The hazard here is disproportionate: cleared slopes shed water instead of absorbing it, so flooding and landslides follow rainfall that would be unremarkable on a forested island. Hurricane Matthew in 2016 destroyed much of the southern peninsula.