Jamaica is an island with an area of 11,244 square kilometres (or about 4,411 square miles). The island is surrounded by the warm waters of the Caribbean Sea and is located in the Tropics at approximately latitude 18ºN and longitude 77ºW, which is about 4.5 degrees south of the Tropic of Cancer or about midway between the southern tip of Florida and the Panama Canal.
The Time Meridian is 75 degrees West; hence the Time Zone is Eastern Standard Time with 0000-hours being midnight or 0500-hours Universal Coordinated Time (UTC) and 1200-hours being noon or 1700-hours UTC.
Among the most important climatic influences are the Northeast Trade Winds, the range of mountains which runs east-southeast to west-southwest along the centre of the island, the warm waters of the Caribbean Sea, and weather systems such as upper- and low-level low-pressure centres, troughs and cold fronts.
is responsible for maintaining a current database of the climate of Jamaica and for the utilization of this data in informing productive sectors of the country.
It consists of a Data Acquisition Unit that sets up and maintains an island wide network of rainfall and climatological stations; a Data Processing Unit that gathers, archives and analyses the climatological data with a view to monitoring and assessing the climate of the island; and an Applied Meteorology Unit that processes the needs of clients, which include crop water requirements, design criteria for hydrologists and engineers, and climatological information for resolving weather related legal and insurance issues.
A branch of the Ministry Economic Growth and Job Creation (MEGJC)
