Unlike many other Caribbean islands, Aruba is an arid island. Don't expect the tropical foliage you'd see in Jamaica or St. Lucia but instead look for desert beauty. The benefit… Far fewer rainy afternoons than you'd see on most islands, and more time on the beautiful white sandy beaches perfecting your tan.
The weather of Aruba is tropical but not extreme, with an average temperature of 82 degrees Fahrenheit (28 degrees Celsius). The island lies far outside the Hurricane Belt, so there is virtually no threat of tropical storms. In the vast majority of cases, Aruba only experiences fringe effect weather of nearby heavy tropical storms, if at all. When it does rain, it tends to be erratic and short, and in most cases “sun” showers.
Rainfall is slight, averaging about 18 inches per year, most of it coming October through January, so you won't find much of the lush green of the other islands. Unlike most of the other Caribbean islands, Aruba is flat and dry. The desert landscape is scattered with boulders and cactus. What does this mean for you? Dry heat! Low humidity! Making a day at the beach, refreshing and beautiful.
The trade winds cool the island making even the hottest day comfortable. Don’t be deceived…Remember…You are still only a short distance from the equator and the Aruba sun is extremely intense. Please put on your sunscreen!
Click here for the current ten day Aruba weather forcast.
In the 10 days that we were there, the only rain we experienced came in the very early morning hours of the day before we departed back to Chicago. I was woken up in the middle of the night by loud thunder and intense lightning. The storm lasted about 2 hours, and was either the end result of Hurricane Fay which hit Cuba directly 5 days earlier or the beginnings of Hurricane Gustav that started near St. Lucia that morning. When we left for the airport around 9:00am the sun was already intense, and quickly evaporating any puddles from the night before.
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