Climate and average weather in Morant Bay

In Morant Bay, the weather is muggy, hot, wet, and partly cloudy and remarkably steady, with daytime highs holding near hot levels all year. The wettest stretch peaks around October.

Best: early January to mid May

Over the course of the year, the temperature in Morant Bay typically varies from 22°C to 28°C, and is rarely below 21°C or above 29°C. August is the hottest month of the year, while February is the coldest.

Based on the travel score, the best times of year to visit Morant Bay for warm-weather activities are from early January to mid May and mid November to late December.

Hottest
Aug
28°
Coldest
Feb
22°
Wettest
Oct
194 mm
Driest
Feb
49 mm
Rain / yr
1318 mm
230 wet days
Daylight
10.9–13.1 h
shortest–longest
Elevation
0 m
17.9°N
Clearest
Feb
37% cloud

Morant Bay is city in Jamaica.

Air quality: WHO Ambient Air Quality Database. Density & description: Wikidata (CC0), GeoNames.

Morant Bay weather by month, at a glance

The whole year in one picture — sky, rain, humidity, temperature and travel score. Click any band to jump to its full chart.

Each stripe is one measure across the whole year, stacked so a single day reads top to bottom. The sky band runs overcast grey on top down to clear blue at the base — more blue means sunnier — followed by the rainfall curve, the humidity band, a temperature strip that tints each stretch of the year by how warm its average high is, and the travel-score line at the foot. Scan straight down any date to read that day across every measure at once; the score climbs highest around early January to mid May.

Temperature through the year

Average highAverage lowShaded bands: 10–90% of days

Daily average highs and lows in Morant Bay, from 1991–2020 of climate data. The shaded bands show the range most days fall in — 10th to 90th percentile.

Temperatures in Morant Bay stay fairly even through the year, without a distinct hot or cool season. The warmest month is August, with an average high of 28°C and low of 25°C; the coolest is February, with an average low of 22°C and high of 25°C.

Days typically run about 3°C warmer than nights year-round.

18°20°22°24°26°28°30°32°JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Avg high (°C)Avg low (°C)
Jan2522
Feb2522
Mar2622
Apr2623
May2724
Jun2825
Jul2825
Aug2825
Sep2825
Oct2824
Nov2724
Dec2623

How hot and cold Morant Bay really feels

Feels-like highFeels-like lowactual air temp

The felt-temperature range through the year — heat index on the day's high (summer humidity), wind chill on the night's low (winter wind). The dashed lines are the plain thermometer; the gap is how much hotter or colder it really feels.

On the hottest afternoons, once humidity is folded in, Morant Bay feels like about 32°C (around August 28). About 47 days a year carry some heat stress, peaking in August.

20°25°30°35°JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Feels-like high (°C)Air high (°C)Feels-like low (°C)Air low (°C)
Jan25252222
Feb25252222
Mar25262222
Apr26262323
May29272424
Jun31282525
Jul31282525
Aug32282525
Sep32282525
Oct31282424
Nov28272424
Dec26262323

Average hourly temperature in Morant Bay

A compact picture of the whole year, hour by hour: each column is a day, each row an hour, and the color is the modeled average temperature. Darker overlays mark night, lighter ones the civil-twilight hours around sunrise and sunset.

Read left to right for the day of the year and top to bottom for the hour of the day; the color is the modeled temperature, cool blues through to hot reds on the same scale as the other charts. A vertical slice is a single day's swing — coolest just before dawn, warmest in the mid-afternoon — while a horizontal slice follows one hour across the seasons. The darker overlay marks night and the lighter one the twilight around sunrise and sunset. Colors run warmest on August afternoons, near 28°C, and coldest before dawn in February, near 22°C.

JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec12 AM2 AM4 AM6 AM8 AM10 AM12 PM2 PM4 PM6 PM8 PM10 PM12 AM

Morant Bay weather by month

Every month at a glance. Click a month for its detailed page.

MonthHigh / Low (°C)Rainfall (mm)Wet daysDaylight (hours)Travel score
Jan25° / 22°6917.7116.0
Feb25° / 22°4915.511.46.1
Mar26° / 22°6617.511.96.0
Apr26° / 23°6316.112.45.8
May27° / 24°14421.212.84.9
Jun28° / 25°12518.813.15.0
Jul28° / 25°10117.9135.1
Aug28° / 25°12820.112.64.6
Sep28° / 25°16122.212.14.2
Oct28° / 24°19424.711.64.3
Nov27° / 24°12619.811.25.0
Dec26° / 23°9218.910.95.6

Chance of rain

How likely it is to rain on a typical day, and how that shifts across the wetter and drier seasons.

Morant Bay gets about 1318 mm of precipitation a year. On a typical day the chance of rain is very wet, but that rises and falls sharply with the seasons.

The wetter season lasts 3.1 months, from around Aug 18 to Nov 20, peaking in October at about 80% chance on a given day. The drier stretch runs the rest of the year, bottoming out around Feb 2.

October is the wettest month by volume, with 194 mm over about 25 wet days; February is the driest, with 49 mm.

0%10%20%30%40%50%60%70%80%90%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecdrierwetterdriermostly drysome rainoften wetvery wetOct 2 · 80%Feb 2 · 53%
Rain on a day (%)Rain days
Jan5718
Feb5516
Mar5618
Apr5616
May6721
Jun6319
Jul5818
Aug6320
Sep7422
Oct7925
Nov6720
Dec6119

Monthly rainfall

Over a full year, Morant Bay collects about 1318 mm of rain across 230 wet days — roughly 110 mm in an average month.

It doesn’t fall evenly. October is the wettest month with 194 mm, while February is the driest at just 49 mm. The three wettest months alone bring about 38% of the year’s total.

050100150200JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec6949666314412510112816119412692
Rainfall (mm)Rain days
Jan6918
Feb4916
Mar6618
Apr6316
May14421
Jun12519
Jul10118
Aug12820
Sep16122
Oct19425
Nov12620
Dec9219

Clouds and sunshine

ClearMostly clearPartly cloudyMostly cloudyOvercast

How often the daytime sky is clear, partly cloudy or overcast.

In Morant Bay, the average share of the sky covered by clouds shows significant seasonal variation over the course of the year.

The clearer part of the year begins around November 26 and lasts for 5.3 months, ending around May 5. The clearest month is February, when the sky is clear, mostly clear, or partly cloudy 88% of the time on average.

The cloudier part of the year begins around May 6 and lasts for 6.7 months, ending around November 25. The cloudiest month is October, when it is overcast or mostly cloudy 58% of the time.

0%100%10%90%20%80%30%70%40%60%50%50%60%40%70%30%80%20%90%10%100%0%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecFeb 13 · 89%Jun 3 · 35%clearmostly clearpartly cloudymostly cloudyovercastclearercloudierclearer
Clearer (%)Cloudier (%)
Jan8020
Feb8812
Mar8614
Apr8020
May4951
Jun4456
Jul6040
Aug5347
Sep4456
Oct4258
Nov5842
Dec7129

Daylight, sunrise and sunset

DaylightNight

Hours of daylight through the year, with sunrise and sunset times.

The gold band is daylight — sunrise runs along its lower edge, sunset along the upper — so it widens toward summer and pinches toward winter, with night the dark area above and below. The longest day, around June 12, brings about 13 h 06 min of light; the shortest, around January 1, only 10 h 54 min — a swing of roughly 2 h 12 min.

12 AM4 AM8 AM12 PM4 PM8 PM12 AMJanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Daylight (h)Sunrise (AM)Sunset (PM)
Jan11.06:445:46
Feb11.46:386:02
Mar11.96:196:12
Apr12.45:546:18
May12.85:376:27
Jun13.15:346:38
Jul13.05:426:41
Aug12.65:516:28
Sep12.15:576:03
Oct11.66:035:38
Nov11.26:175:25
Dec10.96:345:30

Sunny days

How many genuinely sunny days each month brings — days the sky stays clear or mostly clear — banded into plain-language zones.

Morant Bay averages about 12 sunny days a month — counting the days the sky stays clear or mostly clear — with a clear seasonal swing between 6 and 19 days.

The sunnier stretch runs 5.1 months, from around Nov 29 to May 1. The sunniest month is February, with roughly 19 sunny days (bright).

The greyest month is June, down near 8 sunny days — about 57% fewer than the February peak.

0510152025JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecsunniergreyersunniergloomymixedbrightbrilliantFeb 2519 daysJun 26 days
Sunny daysSky
Jan17Bright
Feb17Bright
Mar18Bright
Apr15Bright
May9Mixed
Jun8Mixed
Jul12Mixed
Aug11Mixed
Sep8Gloomy
Oct7Gloomy
Nov10Mixed
Dec14Mixed

Humidity comfort

DryComfortableHumidMuggyOppressiveMiserable

Share of days at each humidity comfort level, based on the dew point — the measure that tracks how muggy it actually feels.

Humidity comfort is graded by the dew point — the temperature at which the air would be fully saturated — because it tracks how muggy it actually feels far better than relative humidity does. A low dew point feels dry and crisp; a high one feels sticky and oppressive no matter the reading on a humidity gauge.

Morant Bay is humid all year round — on a typical day the air feels at least humid, and there is no real dry season to wait for.

The stickiest month is January, when it feels muggy, oppressive or miserable about 96% of the time. Even in March, the mildest month, the air is dry or comfortable only 0% of the time.

0%10%20%30%40%50%60%70%80%90%100%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecmiserableoppressivemuggy
Humid (%)Muggy (%)Oppressive (%)Miserable (%)
Jan447490
Feb461350
Mar353430
Apr124760
May03934
Jun008812
Jul008416
Aug007129
Sep007030
Oct018316
Nov011863
Dec221770

Wind

Average wind speed through the year, banded into plain-language speed zones so a number reads as 'breezy' or 'calm' without knowing the scale.

This is the average sustained wind speed at the standard 10 metres above open ground — the steady flow a weather station reports, not the sharper gusts that come and go, which can run half again as fast. It's the number that says whether a place is generally breezy or calm.

Across the year, average wind speed in Morant Bay is typically light breeze, near 14 km/h, and varies moderately with the seasons.

The windier part of the year lasts 3.2 months, from around May 10 to Aug 15. The windiest month is June, averaging about 16 km/h (light breeze).

The calmer part of the year runs from around Aug 16 to Dec 3, with October the calmest month at about 12 km/h.

05101520JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDeccalmerwindiercalmercalmlight breezeJun 24 · 17 km/hOct 14 · 11 km/h
Wind speed (km/h)Feels
Jan14light breeze
Feb15light breeze
Mar14light breeze
Apr13light breeze
May14light breeze
Jun16light breeze
Jul15light breeze
Aug14light breeze
Sep12calm
Oct12calm
Nov13light breeze
Dec14light breeze

Hazard calendar for Morant Bay

In seasonPeak

When the seasonal hazards worth planning around — the rainy season, tropical-cyclone risk and dust haze — are active through the year.

Morant Bay sits in the Atlantic hurricane belt; the season peaks August–October.

Atlantic hurricane
Jan
Feb
Mar
Apr
May
Jun
Jul
Aug
Sep
Oct
Nov
Dec

Best time to visit Morant Bay

TravelBeach/poolTemperatureCloudsPrecipitation

To characterize how pleasant the weather is in Morant Bay throughout the year, we compute two travel scores — one for general sightseeing, one for beach and pool weather.

Around early May, Morant Bay is still near the tail of its best-weather window — great conditions with the peak-season crowds already thinning.

Inferred from the travel-score curve; month-by-month visitor numbers are a planned addition.

The travel score favors clear, rainless days with daytime highs between 18°C and 28°C. Based on this score, the best times of year to visit Morant Bay for general outdoor tourist activities run from mid June to late July and again from mid November to mid May, with a peak score in the first week of February.

0246810JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecbest timebest timebest timetravel scoretemperaturecloudsprecipitationFeb 3 · 6.2

The travel score (filled area), and its constituents: the temperature score (red line), the cloud cover score (blue line), and the precipitation score (green line).

Travel score (0–10)Rating
Jan6.0good
Feb6.1good
Mar6.0good
Apr5.8good
May5.0fair
Jun5.0fair
Jul5.1fair
Aug4.6fair
Sep4.2fair
Oct4.3fair
Nov5.0fair
Dec5.6good

The beach/pool score favors clear, rainless days with daytime highs between 24°C and 34°C. Based on this score, the best time of year to visit Morant Bay for hot-weather activities is from late October to late September, with a peak score in the first week of April.

024681012JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecbest timebest timebeach/pool scoretemperaturecloudsprecipitationApr 7 · 5.8

The beach/pool score (filled area), and its constituents: the temperature score (red line), the cloud cover score (blue line), and the precipitation score (green line).

What to pack for Morant Bay, by month

EssentialRecommendedOptional

Month by month, what's worth putting in the bag — from the temperature range, rain chance, sun and wind. Tap a month for a quick packing note.

Morant Bay packs about the same all year — highs hold near 28°C. Across the year the things worth having are light clothes, rain gear and sun protection.

Light clothing
Warm layer
Winter coat
Rain gear
Sun protection
Windbreaker

In August, Morant Bay sees daytime highs around 28°C and nights near 25°C. Pack light clothes, rain gear and sun protection. About 20 days see rain.

Sea temperature near Morant Bay

Average ocean temperature at the nearest coast, month by month, banded into swim-comfort zones — the other half of the beach question.

The sea offshore is warmest in September at about 29°C and coldest in February near 27°C.

The water stays above 20°C all year — warm enough for a swim any month.

26°28°30°JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecwarmtropicalcomfortable to swim
Sea temperature (°C)Comfort
Jan27Warm
Feb27Warm
Mar27Warm
Apr27Warm
May28Warm
Jun28Tropical
Jul29Tropical
Aug29Tropical
Sep29Tropical
Oct29Tropical
Nov29Tropical
Dec28Warm

UV index (midday) in Morant Bay by month

LowModerateHighVery highExtreme

Clear-sky midday UV index through the year, shaded by the WHO exposure levels — how much sun protection each month calls for.

Under clear skies, the midday UV index in Morant Bay peaks around April 18 at about 13 (extreme) — sunscreen, a hat and midday shade are essential. It bottoms out near December 15 at about 7 (very high).

The index reaches 3 or more — the level where the WHO recommends sun protection — every month of the year.

025710JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecVery highExtremeVery highApr 18UV 13Dec 15UV 7
UV index (midday)Level
Jan8Very high
Feb10Extreme
Mar12Extreme
Apr13Extreme
May12Extreme
Jun13Extreme
Jul11Extreme
Aug12Extreme
Sep12Extreme
Oct11Extreme
Nov8Very high
Dec7Very high

Average hourly UV index in Morant Bay

LowModerateHighVery highExtreme

Modeled clear-sky UV for every hour of every day — when in the day sun protection actually matters.

The whole year hour by hour: each column is a day, each row an hour, and the color is the modeled clear-sky UV index — the midday peak scaled down as the sun sits lower in the sky. Darker overlays mark night, lighter ones the civil-twilight hours around sunrise and sunset.

UV falls off far faster than brightness as the sun drops, so even in April the burn window is concentrated in the middle of the day: about 8 hours a day reach index 3 (protection recommended), and 6 hours reach 6 or more. Mornings and late afternoons stay comparatively gentle year round.

JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec12 AM2 AM4 AM6 AM8 AM10 AM12 PM2 PM4 PM6 PM8 PM10 PM12 AM
UV ≥ 3 (h/day)UV ≥ 6 (h/day)
Jan6.54
Feb75
Mar86
Apr86
May8.56.5
Jun8.56.5
Jul86
Aug86
Sep86
Oct7.55
Nov6.53.5
Dec63

Air quality in Morant Bay by month

GoodModeratePoorUnhealthyVery unhealthy

Average fine-particle pollution (PM2.5) through the year — so you can see which months the air is worst, not just the yearly average.

Air quality in Morant Bay is worst in June — around 32 µg/m³ PM2.5 (moderate), about 4.2× the cleanest month (December, 8 µg/m³).

Modeled monthly averages (CAMS reanalysis, 2015–2024).

010203040JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecGoodModerateGoodJun 2332 µg/m³Dec 198 µg/m³
PM2.5 (µg/m³)Level
Jan8Good
Feb10Good
Mar10Good
Apr12Good
May19Moderate
Jun32Moderate
Jul31Moderate
Aug25Moderate
Sep17Moderate
Oct14Moderate
Nov9Good
Dec8Good
Almanac & agriculture

Growing season

Chance of a frost-free dayFrost-free year round

Morant Bay is frost-free year round — even the coldest nights rarely reach freezing, so there is no start or end to the growing season.

0%25%50%75%100%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecfrost-free year round
Frost-free chance (%)Frost nights
Jan1000
Feb1000
Mar1000
Apr1000
May1000
Jun1000
Jul1000
Aug1000
Sep1000
Oct1000
Nov1000
Dec1000

Growing degree days

Degree days (base 10°C)Frost-free shaded

Growing degree days tally heat above 10°C: each day adds however many degrees its average temperature runs over that threshold, and cold days add nothing. Morant Bay banks about 5,571 degree days a year, and the running total — which growers use to time plantings and predict maturity — climbs fastest around August.

02,0004,0006,000JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Growing degree days (°C·days)
Jan429
Feb384
Mar431
Apr440
May479
Jun481
Jul509
Aug516
Sep496
Oct496
Nov459
Dec450

Solar energy

Average daily shortwave solar energy reaching the ground, banded into brightness zones so the number means something at a glance.

Solar energy is how much sunlight actually reaches the ground each day, measured in kilowatt-hours per square metre (kWh/m²) — the combined effect of how long the sun is up, how high it climbs, and how much cloud gets in the way. It's the raw fuel a solar panel has to work with: for scale, 1 kWh/m² a day is dim and wintry, while 7+ is desert-bright.

Morant Bay receives about 5.8 kWh/m² a day of solar energy on average — bright — with a clear seasonal swing between 4.5 and 6.7 kWh/m².

The brighter stretch of the year lasts 6.7 months, from around Feb 28 to Sep 20. The brightest month is April, averaging about 6.7 kWh/m² (intense).

The dimmest month is December, down near 4.5 kWh/m² — roughly 33% less than the April peak.

012345678JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecdimmerbrighterdimmerdimmoderatebrightintenseApr 176.7 kWhDec 154.5 kWh
Solar energy (kWh/m²)Level
Jan4.8Bright
Feb5.5Bright
Mar6.2Intense
Apr6.7Intense
May6.4Intense
Jun6.6Intense
Jul6.7Intense
Aug6.5Intense
Sep6.0Bright
Oct5.1Bright
Nov4.7Bright
Dec4.5Bright

Where is Morant Bay?

Morant Bay sits at 17.9°N, 76.4°W, 0 m above sea level, in Jamaica. The nearest listed city is Port Antonio, 33 km away.

Port AntonioNew KingstonKingstonHalf Way TreePort RoyalPortmoreSpanish TownLinstead

Topography around Morant Bay

How much the land rises and falls, and what covers it, within 3, 16 and 80 km of Morant Bay.

Within 3 km, the terrain around Morant Bay has only modest variations in elevation — a maximum elevation change of 221 m around an average of 27 m above sea level; within 16 km, very significant variations in elevation — a maximum elevation change of 1,315 m; within 80 km, very significant variations in elevation — a maximum elevation change of 2,224 m.

The land around Morant Bay is covered by trees (41%) and water (41%) within 3 km, trees (47%) and water (46%) within 16 km, and water (74%) and trees (23%) within 80 km.

3 km
221 m
16 km
1,315 m
80 km
2,224 m
treesgrasslandartificial surfacesbare terrainwater
Nearby: Port Antonio 33 km · New Kingston 42 km · Kingston 43 km · Half Way Tree 44 km · Port Royal 46 km · Portmore 51 km · Spanish Town 59 km · Linstead 72 km

Jamaica travel facts

Travel advisory
Level 2
Exercise Increased Caution
Power plugs
Type A / B
110 V · 50 Hz
Prices
≈ 60% of US
price level, 2025
GDP per capita
$8,003
2025
Happiness
6.3 / 10
World Happiness, 2025
Homicide rate
49.4
per 100k, 2023
Road deaths
15.1
per 100k/yr, 2019
Income group
Upper middle
World Bank
Religion
Protestant 65%none 21%other 7%Roman Catholic 2%

Sources: World Bank, US State Department, World Happiness Report, WHO/UNICEF, EF EPI, CIA World Factbook.

Data sources

Temperature, precipitation, cloud, humidity, wind and solar figures are a 1991–2020 climatology for Morant Bay (17.8815°, -76.4093°, elevation 0 m), computed from hourly ERA5 reanalysis — contains modified Copernicus Climate Change Service information. Sun figures are astronomical calculations, not observations. City data © GeoNames, CC BY 4.0. Map outlines from Natural Earth (public domain); interactive map © Google. Tropical-cyclone seasons are the published climatological basin seasons (NOAA National Hurricane Center / regional warning centres). Sea temperatures are the NOAA OISST v2.1 1991–2020 monthly climatology (public domain), sampled at the nearest ocean point. UV index is derived from CAMS (Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service) clear-sky UV data — contains modified Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service information. Monthly air-quality (PM2.5) seasonality is from the CAMS EAC4 reanalysis (Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service), scaled to the WHO annual mean where available. Topography is sampled from the Copernicus DEM GLO-90 elevation model (© ESA/Airbus) and ESA WorldCover 2021 land cover (CC BY 4.0).