Climate and average weather in Castries

In Castries, 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 April

Over the course of the year, the temperature in Castries typically varies from 24°C to 30°C, and is rarely below 23°C or above 31°C. September is the hottest month of the year, while January is the coldest.

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

Hottest
Sep
30°
Coldest
Jan
24°
Wettest
Oct
119 mm
Driest
Feb
21 mm
Rain / yr
775 mm
183 wet days
Daylight
11.2–12.8 h
shortest–longest
Elevation
119 m
14.0°N
Clearest
Jan
38% cloud

Castries is capital of Saint Lucia.

Density
253/km²
people per km²
Founded
1650

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

Castries 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 April.

Temperature through the year

Average highAverage lowShaded bands: 10–90% of days

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

Temperatures in Castries stay fairly even through the year, without a distinct hot or cool season. The warmest month is September, with an average high of 30°C and low of 26°C; the coolest is January, with an average low of 24°C and high of 28°C.

Days typically run about 4°C warmer than nights year-round.

20°25°30°35°JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Avg high (°C)Avg low (°C)
Jan2824
Feb2824
Mar2824
Apr2925
May2925
Jun2925
Jul2925
Aug3026
Sep3026
Oct2925
Nov2925
Dec2825

How hot and cold Castries 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, Castries feels like about 34°C (around September 9). About 193 days a year carry some heat stress, peaking in September.

20°25°30°35°JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Feels-like high (°C)Air high (°C)Feels-like low (°C)Air low (°C)
Jan30282424
Feb29282424
Mar30282424
Apr31292425
May33292525
Jun33292525
Jul33292525
Aug34302526
Sep34302626
Oct33292525
Nov32292525
Dec31282425

Average hourly temperature in Castries

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 September afternoons, near 30°C, and coldest before dawn in January, near 24°C.

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

Castries 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
Jan28° / 24°3111.811.36.5
Feb28° / 24°218.811.56.7
Mar28° / 24°269.811.96.1
Apr29° / 25°3611.512.35.4
May29° / 25°4712.512.64.9
Jun29° / 25°6515.112.84.5
Jul29° / 25°8320.312.74.2
Aug30° / 26°9920.712.54.0
Sep30° / 26°10419.412.13.9
Oct29° / 25°11920.911.74.0
Nov29° / 25°10218.911.44.5
Dec28° / 25°421311.25.7

Chance of rain

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

Castries gets about 775 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 5.8 months, from around Jun 9 to Dec 1, peaking in August at about 70% chance on a given day. The drier stretch runs the rest of the year, bottoming out around Mar 9.

October is the wettest month by volume, with 119 mm over about 21 wet days; February is the driest, with 21 mm.

0%10%20%30%40%50%60%70%80%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecdrierwetterdriermostly drysome rainoften wetvery wetAug 2 · 70%Mar 9 · 30%
Rain on a day (%)Rain days
Jan3812
Feb329
Mar3210
Apr3712
May4113
Jun5215
Jul6420
Aug6821
Sep6419
Oct6721
Nov6219
Dec4313

Monthly rainfall

Over a full year, Castries collects about 775 mm of rain across 183 wet days — roughly 65 mm in an average month.

It doesn’t fall evenly. October is the wettest month with 119 mm, while February is the driest at just 21 mm. The three wettest months alone bring about 42% of the year’s total.

0255075100125150JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec312126364765839910411910242
Rainfall (mm)Rain days
Jan3112
Feb219
Mar2610
Apr3612
May4713
Jun6515
Jul8320
Aug9921
Sep10419
Oct11921
Nov10219
Dec4213

Clouds and sunshine

ClearMostly clearPartly cloudyMostly cloudyOvercast

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

In Castries, 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 21 and lasts for 4.5 months, ending around April 5. The clearest month is January, when the sky is clear, mostly clear, or partly cloudy 87% of the time on average.

The cloudier part of the year begins around July 27 and lasts for 3.8 months, ending around November 20. The cloudiest month is September, when it is overcast or mostly cloudy 55% 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%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecJan 25 · 88%Sep 30 · 41%clearmostly clearpartly cloudymostly cloudyovercastclearercloudierclearer
Clearer (%)Cloudier (%)
Jan8713
Feb8416
Mar7426
Apr5842
May5248
Jun4555
Jul5941
Aug5842
Sep4555
Oct4555
Nov5941
Dec7624

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 May 30, brings about 12 h 48 min of light; the shortest, around January 1, only 11 h 12 min — a swing of roughly 1 h 36 min.

12 AM4 AM8 AM12 PM4 PM8 PM12 AMJanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Daylight (h)Sunrise (AM)Sunset (PM)
Jan11.36:365:51
Feb11.56:336:05
Mar11.96:176:11
Apr12.35:556:14
May12.65:416:20
Jun12.85:406:29
Jul12.75:476:32
Aug12.55:546:22
Sep12.15:566:01
Oct11.75:595:39
Nov11.46:095:29
Dec11.26:255:36

Sunny days

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

Castries averages about 12 sunny days a month — counting the days the sky stays clear or mostly clear — with a clear seasonal swing between 7 and 20 days.

The sunnier stretch runs 4.2 months, from around Nov 21 to Mar 27. The sunniest month is January, with roughly 19 sunny days (bright).

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

0510152025JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecsunniergreyersunniergloomymixedbrightbrilliantJan 620 daysOct 37 days
Sunny daysSky
Jan20Bright
Feb17Bright
Mar14Mixed
Apr10Mixed
May9Mixed
Jun8Mixed
Jul12Mixed
Aug12Mixed
Sep9Mixed
Oct9Mixed
Nov11Mixed
Dec17Bright

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.

Castries 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 94% of the time. Even in April, 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%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecmiserablemuggyoppressivehumid
Humid (%)Muggy (%)Oppressive (%)Miserable (%)
Jan666280
Feb1080100
Mar973180
Apr149490
May021782
Jun05914
Jul01945
Aug008812
Sep018515
Oct018811
Nov05913
Dec235630

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 Castries is typically light breeze, near 20 km/h, and varies moderately with the seasons.

The windier part of the year lasts 7.7 months, from around Dec 8 to Jul 29. The windiest month is June, averaging about 22 km/h (breezy).

The calmer part of the year runs from around Jul 30 to Dec 7, with September the calmest month at about 16 km/h.

051015202530JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecwindiercalmercalmlight breezebreezywindyJun 24 · 23 km/hSep 20 · 16 km/h
Wind speed (km/h)Feels
Jan22breezy
Feb22breezy
Mar21breezy
Apr20breezy
May21breezy
Jun22breezy
Jul21breezy
Aug18light breeze
Sep16light breeze
Oct16light breeze
Nov18light breeze
Dec21breezy

Hazard calendar for Castries

In seasonPeak

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

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

Castries's rainy season runs June–November, when most of the year's rain falls.

Castries sees seasonal dust haze (June–July), heaviest in June.

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

Best time to visit Castries

TravelBeach/poolTemperatureCloudsPrecipitation

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

Around early April, Castries 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 time of year to visit Castries for general outdoor tourist activities is from early December to mid April, with a peak score in the last week of January.

0246810JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecbest timebest timetravel scoretemperaturecloudsprecipitationJan 31 · 6.8

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
Jan6.5good
Feb6.7good
Mar6.1good
Apr5.4fair
May4.9fair
Jun4.5fair
Jul4.2fair
Aug4.0fair
Sep3.9fair
Oct4.0fair
Nov4.6fair
Dec5.7good

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 Castries for hot-weather activities is from late November to early July, with a peak score in the first week of February.

024681012JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecbest timebest timebeach/pool scoretemperaturecloudsprecipitationFeb 2 · 7.2

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 Castries, 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.

Castries packs about the same all year — highs hold near 30°C. Across the year the things worth having are light clothes, rain gear, sun protection and a windbreaker.

Light clothing
Warm layer
Winter coat
Rain gear
Sun protection
Windbreaker

In September, Castries sees daytime highs around 30°C and nights near 26°C. Pack light clothes and rain gear. Worth having: sun protection. About 19 days see rain.

Sea temperature near Castries

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

The sea at the nearest coast (about 19 km away) 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
Jun28Warm
Jul28Tropical
Aug29Tropical
Sep29Tropical
Oct29Tropical
Nov29Tropical
Dec28Warm

UV index (midday) in Castries 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 Castries peaks around March 21 at about 14 (extreme) — sunscreen, a hat and midday shade are essential. It bottoms out near December 13 at about 8 (very high).

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

025710JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecExtremeVery highMar 21UV 14Dec 13UV 8
UV index (midday)Level
Jan9Very high
Feb12Extreme
Mar14Extreme
Apr13Extreme
May12Extreme
Jun11Extreme
Jul12Extreme
Aug11Extreme
Sep12Extreme
Oct11Extreme
Nov9Very high
Dec8Very high

Average hourly UV index in Castries

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 March the burn window is concentrated in the middle of the day: about 8 hours a day reach index 3 (protection recommended), and 6.5 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)
Jan74.5
Feb7.55.5
Mar86.5
Apr86.5
May8.56.5
Jun86
Jul86
Aug85.5
Sep86
Oct7.55.5
Nov6.54
Dec6.54

Air quality in Castries 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 Castries is worst in June — around 29 µg/m³ PM2.5 (moderate), about 2.9× the cleanest month (December, 10 µg/m³).

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

010203040JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecGoodModerateGoodJun 1929 µg/m³Dec 2310 µg/m³
PM2.5 (µg/m³)Level
Jan10Good
Feb14Moderate
Mar12Good
Apr16Moderate
May19Moderate
Jun29Moderate
Jul25Moderate
Aug21Moderate
Sep15Moderate
Oct18Moderate
Nov13Moderate
Dec10Good
Almanac & agriculture

Growing season

Chance of a frost-free dayFrost-free year round

Castries 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. Castries banks about 6,155 degree days a year, and the running total — which growers use to time plantings and predict maturity — climbs fastest around September.

02,0004,0006,000JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Growing degree days (°C·days)
Jan491
Feb442
Mar498
Apr499
May537
Jun523
Jul539
Aug544
Sep531
Oct539
Nov505
Dec508

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.

Castries receives about 5.9 kWh/m² a day of solar energy on average — bright — with a clear seasonal swing between 4.9 and 6.7 kWh/m².

The brighter stretch of the year lasts 7.0 months, from around Feb 18 to Sep 17. The brightest month is April, averaging about 6.6 kWh/m² (intense).

The dimmest month is December, down near 4.9 kWh/m² — roughly 25% less than the April peak.

012345678JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecdimmerbrighterdimmerdimmoderatebrightintenseApr 276.7 kWhDec 24.9 kWh
Solar energy (kWh/m²)Level
Jan5.2Bright
Feb5.8Bright
Mar6.4Intense
Apr6.7Intense
May6.6Intense
Jun6.4Intense
Jul6.3Intense
Aug6.2Intense
Sep6.0Bright
Oct5.5Bright
Nov5.0Bright
Dec5.0Bright

Where is Castries?

Castries sits at 14.0°N, 61.0°W, 119 m above sea level, in Saint Lucia. The nearest listed city is Gros Islet, 10 km away.

Gros IsletSoufriereVieux Fort

What Castries looks like

Topography around Castries

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

Within 3 km, the terrain around Castries has significant variations in elevation — a maximum elevation change of 266 m around an average of 45 m above sea level; within 16 km, large variations in elevation — a maximum elevation change of 900 m; within 80 km, large variations in elevation — a maximum elevation change of 1,191 m.

The land around Castries is covered by trees (46%) and water (35%) within 3 km, water (55%) and trees (42%) within 16 km, and water (89%) within 80 km.

3 km
266 m
16 km
900 m
80 km
1,191 m
treesgrasslandartificial surfaceswaterwetland
Nearby: Gros Islet 10 km · Soufriere 16 km · Vieux Fort 32 km · Ducos 65 km · Fort-de-France 68 km · Le Lamentin 69 km · Le François 70 km · Saint-Joseph 75 km

Saint Lucia travel facts

Travel advisory
Level 2
Exercise Increased Caution
Power plugs
Type A / B / G
240 V · 50 Hz
Prices
≈ 51% of US
price level, 2025
GDP per capita
$14,746
2025
Homicide rate
39
per 100k, 2023
Road deaths
29.8
per 100k/yr, 2019
Income group
Upper middle
World Bank
Religion
Roman Catholic 62%Protestant 26%none 6%other Christian 3%

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 Castries (13.9957°, -61.0061°, elevation 119 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).