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January 2012 Climate Report for Puerto Rico and U.S. Virgin Islands

January 2012 Highlights

New Records for January 2012

Saint Thomas

Date	New Record	Old Record
January 10th	A record low temperature of 68°F.	This breaks the old record of 69°F set in 2008.

Saint Croix 

Date	New Record	Old Record
January 18th	A record daily maximum rainfall of 0.71".	This breaks the old record of 0.33".
January 2012	11th wettest January on record.	January 1963 ended as the wettest January on record with a rainfall total of 7.35".

 

Other notable temperatures and precipitation amounts

Notable January 2012 High's	Notable January 2012 Low's
91°F   Jan. 7th   Gurabo AES	48°F   Jan. 5th and 12th   Adjuntas AES
90°F   Jan. 4th and 22nd   Ponce 4E	51°F   Jan. 14th   Adjuntas AES
90°F   Jan. 16th   Lajas AES	50°F   Jan. 22nd   Adjuntas AES

	Puerto Rico	U.S. Virgin Islands
Highest 24 hr Precip Total	2.70"   Jan. 10th  Dos Bocas	0.71"   Jan. 18th  Christiansted Airport
Highest Weekly Rainfall Accum.	3.74"   Jan. 7th-13th  Dos Bocas	1.12"   Jan. 14th-20th  Christiansted Airport

January 2012 Statistics

 Average January Temperatures/Precipitation (NCDC 1981-2010 averages):

	San Juan	Saint Thomas	Saint Croix
High	83.2°F	85.1°F	84.0°F
Low	72.0°F	72.5°F	72.4°F
Avg. T	77.6°F	78.8°F	78.2°F
Pcpn.	3.76’’	2.38’’	2.14’’

  January 2012 Observations:

	San Juan	Saint Thomas	Saint Croix
High	82.6°F(-0.6°F)	81.3 °F(-3.8°F)	80.5°F(-3.5°F)
Low	71.9°F(-0.1°F)	70.3 °F(-2.2°F)	68.9°F(-3.5°F)
Avg. T	77.3°F(-0.3°F)	75.8°F(-3.0°F)	74.8°F(-3.4°F)
Pcpn.	3.73"(-0.03")	1.99"(-0.39")	3.03"(+0.89")

 January 2012 extremes:

	San Juan	Saint Thomas	Saint Croix
High	85°F January 13th and 8th	84°F January 31st, 28th and 27th	84°F January 1st and 2nd
Low	69°F January 19th	67°F January 22nd, 21st and 12th	65°F January 12th

Monthly Summary 

     A generally fair and mainly dry weather pattern prevailed across the local islands during January 2012, which is climatologically typical for this time of the year. Passing showers embedded in the trades ruled the entire month, producing some cloudiness and light rainfall amounts. This pattern of limited low level moisture and stable conditions helped to suppress significant afternoon convection even across the favored areas of western Puerto Rico.

Rainfall Accumulations Year to Date (YTD)    

 

  Figure A – Graphical Display of January 2012 precipitation across Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands derived from a combination of rain gage and radar data.

 

Figure B – Graphical Display of YTD precipitation across Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands derived from a combination of rain gage and radar data  

Sector	Rain	Normal	PON
X North Coast	3.87	3.31	117%
X South Coast	1.00	0.98	102%
X North Slopes	2.70	2.95	90%
X South Slopes	1.45	2.00	73%
X East Interior	3.50	4.31	81%
X West Interior	3.10	2.95	105%
Puerto Rico Average	2.60	2.75	98%
X U.S. Virgin Islands	2.73	1.97	138%

 Figure C – Display of YTD precipitation by climate sectors derived from rain gage data.

 January Historical Statistics              

Highest January Temperatures on record:

San Juan	Saint Thomas	Saint Croix
92°F January 16th 1983	93°F January 5th 1996	92°F January 30th 1973
92°F January 11th 1982	93°F January 3rd 1996	91°F January 14th 1973
91°F January 21st 1995	92°F January 13th 1996	90°F January 26th 1973

Lowest January Temperatures on record: 

San Juan	Saint Thomas	Saint Croix
61°F January 31st 1962	63°F January 29th 1996	62 °F January 18th 1981
62°F January 25th 1968	63°F January 8th 1956	62°F January 18th 1980
62°F January 28th 1965	64°F January 20th 2000	62°F January 20th 1979

Wettest Januarys: 

San Juan	Saint Thomas	Saint Croix
15.47" January 1937	4.83" January 2006	7.35" January 1963
12.45" January 1902	4.67" January 1995	5.26" January 2005
11.07" January 2010	4.19" January 1956	4.77" January 1952

Driest Januarys: 

San Juan	Saint Thomas	Saint Croix
0.61" January 1978	0.76" January 2007	0.49" January 2011
0.69" January 1983	0.82" January 1991	0.54" January 1977
0.94" January 1960	0.87" January 1976	0.60" January 2009

Decadal January Observations for San Juan, Puerto Rico

	2010-2012	2000’s	1990’s	1980’s	1970’s	1960’s
High	83.2°F	82.5°F	83.6°F	84.1°F	83.0°F	82.7°F
Low	71.9°F	71.2°F	71.3°F	70.7°F	72.0°F	69.3°F
Avg. T	77.5°F	76.8°F	77.4°F	77.4°F	77.5°F	76.0°F
Pcpn.	5.37"	3.90’’	4.09’’	2.34’’	2.68’’	3.05’’

Looking ahead toward the month of February

Average February Temperatures/Precipitation (NCDC 1981-2010 averages):

 

	San Juan	Saint Thomas	Saint Croix
High	83.7°F	85.1°F	84.0°F
Low	72.0°F	72.5°F	72.3°F
Avg. T	77.9°F	78.8°F	78.2°F
Pcpn.	2.39’’	1.43’’	1.65’’

 

 Moon/Sun/Tide Data for the Month of February 2012   

Sunrise/sunset data, phase of the moon, as well as tide data can all be found by going to the climate portion of the National Weather Service San Juan Climate homepage and then clicking on the astronomical tab.