Rainy Season in Jamaica: Month by Month
Quick answer: Jamaica has two rainy peaks rather than one. The rain arrives in May and June, eases through July, then comes back harder from August to November: Montego Bay’s October is 206 mm (8.1 in) and its July only 106 mm (4.2 in). The dry months are Dec–Mar, with February at 35 mm (1.4 in) across 8 rain days.
Pick a destination to see its weather month by month and the best time to go, or pick a month to see where the weather is at its best.
Tokyo · a city trip
Good: Mar–May, Oct–DecNo month is ideal for a city trip by our rule, but these come close.
- Warmest
- Aug · 89°F
- Coolest
- Jan · 49°F
- Wettest
- Jul · 16 rain days
- Averages for 2006–2025: any single year can be hotter, colder or wetter.
Weather from NASA POWER daily data, 2006–2025, for the ~50 km area around each place. Right on the coast, afternoons can be a few degrees warmer than shown.
| Month | High / low (°F) | Rain days | Rain (in) | Storms within 100 mi | Verdict |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jan | 49° / 34° | 5 | 2.4 | Off (too cold) | |
| Feb | 51° / 35° | 7 | 3.1 | Off (too cold) | |
| Mar | 57° / 40° | 12 | 5.1 | Good (cool, showery) | |
| Apr | 65° / 48° | 12 | 6 | Good (showery) | |
| May | 73° / 58° | 13 | 6.6 | Good (showery) | |
| Jun | 79° / 65° | 16 | 8.1 | Off (too wet) | |
| Jul | 86° / 73° | 16 | 6.5 | Off (too wet) | |
| Aug | 89° / 75° | 15 | 5.4 | Off (too hot) | |
| Sep | 82° / 70° | 16 | 8.7 | Off (too wet) | |
| Oct | 72° / 59° | 14 | 8.9 | Good (showery) | |
| Nov | 63° / 48° | 11 | 4.4 | Good (showery) | |
| Dec | 54° / 39° | 7 | 3.2 | Good (cool) |
The tool above opens on Montego Bay: change the place or the month to yours, or compare Ocho Rios. Below, Jamaica month by month — rain, rain days and how warm it is.
Jamaica month by month
Average rainfall and the number of days with at least 1 mm of rain, 2006–2025. On this page a month counts as wet when it gets more rain than an average month in that place (more than a twelfth of its year), and dry when it gets less than half an average month. The months in between are the shoulder.
| Month | Montego Bay | Ocho Rios | Montego Bay: rain |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 10 days — dry | 10 days — dry | 44 mm (1.7 in) |
| February | 8 days — dry | 8 days — dry | 35 mm (1.4 in) |
| March | 12 days — dry | 10 days — dry | 50 mm (2.0 in) |
| April | 13 days — shoulder | 13 days — shoulder | 68 mm (2.7 in) |
| May | 20 days — wet | 21 days — wet | 145 mm (5.7 in) |
| June | 24 days — wet | 24 days — wet | 164 mm (6.5 in) |
| July | 23 days — shoulder | 25 days — shoulder | 106 mm (4.2 in) |
| August | 26 days — wet | 26 days — wet | 154 mm (6.1 in) |
| September | 26 days — wet | 27 days — wet | 183 mm (7.2 in) |
| October | 27 days — wet | 27 days — wet | 206 mm (8.1 in) |
| November | 18 days — wet | 18 days — wet | 143 mm (5.6 in) |
| December | 13 days — dry | 12 days — shoulder | 53 mm (2.1 in) |
Montego Bay is wet in May–Jun, Aug–Nov, shoulder in Apr, Jul and dry in Dec–Mar. Ocho Rios is wet in May–Jun, Aug–Nov, shoulder in Apr, Jul, Dec and dry in Jan–Mar. In this record July sits inside Montego Bay’s wet run and is 33% drier than the months either side of it.
Ocho Rios, along the north coast, is the drier of the two over a year — 1119 mm (44.1 in) against Montego Bay’s 1351 mm (53.2 in) — and has the same two peaks. The second peak is also the storm season, which is why October reads as the month to avoid on both counts. Negril is not shown separately: it falls in the same grid square as Montego Bay, so its figures would be the same numbers twice.
The wettest and driest months
Montego Bay: wettest in October (206 mm (8.1 in), 27 rain days), driest in February (35 mm (1.4 in), 8 rain days). Ocho Rios: wettest in October (177 mm (7.0 in), 27 rain days), driest in February (28 mm (1.1 in), 8 rain days). Over the year, Montego Bay gets 1351 mm (53.2 in).
Does the rainy season mean storms?
Not by itself — but Montego Bay is on the hurricane map, and the two overlap here. In the 50 seasons to 2025 a tropical storm or hurricane passed within 100 miles of it in 5 of them in August, its busiest month — which is to say that in the other 45, that month was rain and nothing else. Rain is what most of a wet season is: for the storms themselves, see hurricane season in Jamaica and every storm since 1976.
The best months to go
Montego Bay: Feb · Ocho Rios: Feb. When to Go rates every month on temperature, rain days and storms — open Montego Bay in the tool above and step through the year.
Plan it
- Unique things to do in Jamaica
- Is Jamaica worth visiting?
- What to bring to Jamaica
- Montego Bay’s weather, month by month
- Where to travel this month
- Hurricane season in Jamaica
FAQ
When is the rainy season in Jamaica?
May–Jun, Aug–Nov — the months that get more rain than an average month in Montego Bay. October is the wettest, at 206 mm (8.1 in) across 27 rain days, against 35 mm (1.4 in) in February (NASA POWER, 2006–2025).
Does it rain all day in the rainy season in Jamaica?
The measure here is a day with at least 1 mm of rain, not a day of rain. In October, Montego Bay averages 27 rain days out of 31, with an average high of 86°F / 30°C, and July in the middle of the season is drier than the months either side of it.
What is the driest month in Jamaica?
February, at 35 mm (1.4 in) across 8 rain days. The dry months, by the rule this page uses, are Dec–Mar.
When is the best time to visit Jamaica?
When to Go rates Feb the best months for Montego Bay, on temperature, rain days and — where it applies — storms. The other places on this page have their own; open the tool above on each.
Is July a good month to visit Jamaica?
On rain, yes: it is the break between Jamaica’s two peaks, 106 mm (4.2 in) at Montego Bay against 164 mm (6.5 in) in June and 154 mm (6.1 in) in August. It is also inside the hurricane season, which peaks later — see hurricane season in Jamaica.
How these numbers are made
Daily rainfall and temperature from NASA POWER (MERRA-2), averaged over 2006–2025; a rain day is a day with at least 1 mm. POWER works on a grid of about 50 km, so each place here is its neighbourhood rather than its own rain gauge: a coast, a small island or a valley under a mountain can differ from the square it sits in. The months are the part that holds; treat a single millimetre figure as an average, not a forecast. Storm counts are from NOAA’s best tracks (HURDAT2), 1976–2025.