JAN
FEB
APR
MAR
MAY
JUN
JUL
AUG
SEP
OCT
NOV
DEC
DRY
WET
PETITE
CAREME
WET
DRY
Englishman's Bay Tobago
- Nature Calendar -
January
SUNRISE - 6:22 AM to 6:27 AM SUNSET - 5:51 PM to 6:05 PM
AVERAGE MAX TEMP - 85 F 29 C
AVERAGE MIN TEMP - 74 F 23 C
The dry season is beginning (or should be). Immortelle trees lose their leaves and begin to bloom. These large trees have brilliant orange blossoms. Covered with blossoms and leafless they are a beautiful sight. They can be found only a short distance from the Englishman's Bay beach and dotted throughout the hills and valleys of the estate. This year, 2008, January sees continuous unseasonal rain, causing many landslides along the roads and Immortelle trees have not bloomed. "Cypres*" trees are beginning to bloom. The sea is often rough.
*Many things in Trinidad and Tobago, like trees and fish, have "local" names. These names are often taken from English or French names of trees or fish that resemble the ones that occur in T & T. "Cypres" is similar to cypress, but it is a different tree. The Tobago "salmon" is not the same fish known elsewhere as "salmon".
February
SUNRISE - 6:27 AM to 6:18 AM SUNSET - 6:06 PM to 6:12 PM
AVERAGE MAX TEMP - 85 F 29 C
AVERAGE MIN TEMP - 74 F 23 C
Some late blooming Immortelles. Vegetation is drying up. "Cypres" trees are still blooming. They have gray/white blooms. The locals refer to the Immortelles and the Cypres as "Fire and Ice".
March
SUNRISE - 6:17 AM to 6:00 AM SUNSET - 6:12 PM to 6:13 PM
AVERAGE MAX TEMP - 86 F 30 C
AVERAGE MIN TEMP - 75 F 23 C
Most Immortelle blooms have usually fallen by mid-March (2008 sees plenty of Immortelles in full bloom late into the month, becayuse of the late dry season.) Now the Yellow Poui trees begin to bloom for the first time. Yellow Poui's bloom for only a couple weeks, but their intense yellow blossoms are beautiful whether on the tree on on the ground! Locals say when the Poui's bloom three times the rainy season is coming.
There is almost always a breeze at Englishman's Bay and sometimes it's a pretty stiff breeze. It usually blows from the northeast, and on occasions from the south to southwest Mangoes are ripening.
April
SUNRISE - 5:59 AM to 5:44 AM SUNSET - 6:13 PM to 6:15 PM
AVERAGE MAX TEMP - 87 F 30 C
AVERAGE MIN TEMP - 76 F 24 C
On average, April is the driest month of the year. It's about this time when the bush fires occur. Bush fires start many ways, but almost always due to human negligence or intent. Gardeners clearing land in preparation for the next wet season, burn the cuttings and the fire gets away. Cigarettes thrown down into the tinder-dry weeds. Some folks just seem to like to watch the hillsides burn. Bush fires are a problem in Tobago. Although they never get really big, they leave the land black and scarred and destroy wildlife. High winds during this period help the fires to spread.
May
SUNRISE - 5:44 AM to 5:38 AM SUNSET - 6:16 PM to 6:22 PM
AVERAGE MAX TEMP - 87 F 30 C
AVERAGE MIN TEMP - 78 F 25 C
Towering cumulus clouds glide over the island and out to sea. The wet season offically starts around the end of May, although the change from dry season to wet can occur at different times in different years. Usually, the rains begin gradually.
June
SUNRISE - 5:38 AM to 5:43 AM SUNSET - 6:23 PM to 6:29 PM
AVERAGE MAX TEMP - 86 F 30 C
AVERAGE MIN TEMP - 77 F 25 C
Magnificent Frigate birds (also "Man-o-War birds") fly up the coast of Tobago all year round. Locally called "Scissor-tails", these large birds nest at the northeast tip of Tobago and on St. Giles Island. They can't enter the water - if they do they can't get out! They will wait for a gull to catch a fish and then swoop down on it and interfere with the gull until it drops its catch, then catch the fish before it drops into the sea. They can catch fish by picking them out of the water with their beaks which they do in feeding areas further out at sea, only coming closer to shore to fly back to their nests. This is why you will only see them flying up the coast (southwest to northeast), never down (northeast to southwest). Tobagonians say when the Frigate birds are seen very high in the sky, it will be clear. When they circle low, it will rain.
July
SUNRISE - 5:43 AM to 5:50 AM SUNSET - 6:30 PM to 6:27 PM
AVERAGE MAX TEMP - 86 F 30 C
AVERAGE MIN TEMP - 77 F 25 C
You'll see ripe mangos all over the island, hundreds lying on the ground. There seems to be more mangos than people can eat this time of year. A certain type of harmless centipede seems to be plentiful. A few Flambouyant and Cassia trees still blooming. Several days in a row it will rain each morning and then be clear and sunny all afternoon.
August
SUNRISE - 5:50 AM to 5:52 AM SUNSET - 6:27 PM to 6:13 PM
AVERAGE MAX TEMP - 86 F 30 C
AVERAGE MIN TEMP - 77 F 25 C
Continuing patterns of alternating rain and sun. Many wet season days are mostly sunny with light to medium 5-minute showers several times a day. In some years there is a dry spell in August lasting two or more weeks.
All blooms have fallen now from the Cassia and Flamboyant trees. Less Frigate birds flying up the coast. More sightings of parrots, cocoricos and pelicans, all very common this time of year.
September
SUNRISE - 5:52 AM to 5:51 AM SUNSET - 6:12 PM to 5:53 PM
AVERAGE MAX TEMP - 86 F 30 C
AVERAGE MIN TEMP - 78 F 25 C
Sometime around the end of the month, two weeks of quite hot, dry weather. This is the "Petit Careme" (translation unknown?!). But the rainy season is not over yet.
A flock of 50 Frigate birds flying over Englishman's Bay!
October
SUNRISE - 5:51 AM to 5:54 AM SUNSET - 5:53 PM to 5:38 PM
AVERAGE MAX TEMP - 86 F 30 C
AVERAGE MIN TEMP - 77 F 25 C
The rains continue unabated.
November
SUNRISE - 5:54 AM to 6:06 AM SUNSET - 5:38 PM to 5:37 PM
AVERAGE MAX TEMP - 86 F 30 C
AVERAGE MIN TEMP - 76 F 24 C
Many say this can be the wettest month of wet season. The sea is getting rougher and winds are rising.
December
SUNRISE - 6:06 AM to 6:21 AM SUNSET - 5:37 PM to 5: PM
AVERAGE MAX TEMP - 85 F 29 C
AVERAGE MIN TEMP - 75 F 23 C
Christmas brings the sounds of Bamboo Cannons. The younger folks cut large bamboos and fashion them into cannons using kerosene as fuel. Christmas kites are flying in the seasonally high winds over the villages. The waves are often very large. Unusually heavy rain continues. Although temperatures in Tobago vary on average only a few degrees, it does get a bit cooler, especially at night, in the "winter".
The sun sets faster in the tropics. On a very clear day, look for the "green flash" just as the sun dissappears. (It's more of a dot than a flash.)
Unscientific collection of personal obeservations by the author. Let me know if you find errors or want to add something. - Rick
June should see some rainfall, somtimes lasting several days at a time. But many days are bright with sunshine. The Cassia and Flambouyant trees are still blooming.
A heavy rain will cause much of Englishman's Bay to turn brown. This is natural. After the rain stops, the bay will be clear again in a few hours.
The hurricane season starts June 1st and runs until November 30. Tobago is out of the hurricane zone, although one may hit on average once every 100 years. The last one to hit Tobago was Hurricane Flora in 1962.
In the dry season, it does rain. About 75% of the total rainfall occurs in the wet season and 25% in the dry season. You may have several short showers in a day. Sometimes it seems to rain only at night, though the days are hot and dry.
