They call it Caribbean weather, quick change without any warnings. This morning was nice and sunny in Bayahibe Dominican Republic, then around noon some clouds came in and BANG, pouring rain started. Just like that. It lasted for about 2 hours. By 4 PM we had sunshine already.

But after all, we didn’t have rain for many days (I know they did in Santo Domingo), so finally we know again how the rain looks like. We tend to forget easily and think sun, sun, sun all the time. So it’s a nice change to see some rain, if it’s not raining few days in a row, as we used to see in other parts of the island. I believe the tourist coming here for a week or two to enjoy the sunshine, white beaches and nice clear Caribbean sea don’t like it too much, but we do once a while. We don’t have to water our gardens

November clouds in Bayahibe Dominican Republic

Cloudy afternoon in Bayahibe Dominican Republic

This fast change of weather is usually very surprising for people that come to Dominican Republic, or actually to any part of Caribbean, for first time. At least it was for us when we came. You don’t see any signs of rain coming, enjoying the nice sunny day on the beach, or having dinner under the sky full of stars. And suddenly in half an hour you are soaked, but still warm. Another half an hour later, it’s back to sunshine or clear sky with millions of stars again. But usually we don’t get these showers during the day much, it mostly rains during the night, making the air nice and fresh and we are back to sunny day the next morning.

We’ve had really nice weather for scuba diving in Bayahibe Dominican Republic unlike other parts of this beautiful Caribbean island. The Punta Cana / Bavaro area had to cancel all diving for the past week or so. They had big 9ft waves on the north coast couple days ago meaning no scuba diving on the north coast either. As most of the divers say, scuba diving in Dominican Republic is the best here.

Henri, not a storm anymore, just a depression for now, doesn’t look too good right now. Instead of going more north or north-west, it turned west and is heading directly towards the island.

Depression Henri heading towards Dominican republic

If it continues like this, Dominican Republic will get lots of rain. Even though it slowed down and lost the power, it might still bring some floods in some areas. We will continue to watch for more favorable changes.

What about Henri, the storm that is coming towards Hispaniola Island? Is it going to follow the previous storms and disappear, change the direction, or continue and bring some rain to our sunny paradise in Bayahibe Dominican republic?

A new storm Henry formed, but it looks like it might be slowing down before it gets closer to Dominican Republic. Based on the expected course it might be turning more east, meaning it might bring some rain to the north coast. But like we’ve seen it before it might change the direction to who knows where. More north would be great, in that case we wouldn’t get anything. More south – we don’t want that, it would bring lots of rain and wind all over the country. Let’s watch what will happen in the next day or two and hope for the best.

Storm update for Dominican Republic

So far we’ve been lucky and didn’t get that much rain. But we still have a month of possible storms and hurricanes ahead of us. Let’s hope it will stay quiet and we can continue diving in Bayahibe, one of the best places to scuba dive Dominican Republic.

Yes, we have a rainy Sunday in Bayahibe.  After many nice sunny days, the rain came and watered our dry gardens. But somebody forgot to turn the water off and it was raining almost all day long.

Bayhibe weather Sept 20,2009

Bayahibe weather Sept 20, 2009

In the morning the sun was trying to get out after a heavy shower at night. But the clouds covered it by noon and the rain started again shortly after. At 3 PM the shower was so heavy that we were soaked in few seconds and had to wait with unloading the car. It was raining for about 2 hours. Even after it stopped we still heard the thunder in the distance till late night.

Bayahibe weather Sept 20, 2009

Bayahibe weather Sept 20, 2009

But so far we cannot complain much about the weather in Bayahibe, Dominican Republic this hurricane season.

Weather today in Bayahibe – it supposed to be a very wet day. According to the Dominican news, some low pressure was coming from the east and should bring some heavy showers. And actually it did.

Weather Bayahibe Sept 11, 2009

Weather Bayahibe Sept 11, 2009

After a sunny morning some clouds came in and the sky turned from blue to grey. Around noon buckets of water started falling down for about half an hour, then it slowed down a bit and eventually stopped. But only for an hour or so and then it started again. This time it rained only for 15 minutes, but probably the amount of the water was the same like before. But still, even during the heaviest rain, I was sitting in shorts and tank top, so I cannot complain about the rain to much. The only problem with the rain…… the temperature in the pool lowered a bit, it wasn’t 31 C / 88 F, but went down to 30 C / 85 F. I hope we have sunny day tomorrow and the pool temperature will get back to “normal”

Weather Bayahibe Sept 11, 2009

Weather Bayahibe Sept 11, 2009

Most of the time when people are worried about the forecast showing rain and showers I tell them to ignore it, because it’s hardly ever correct (except for the tropical storms and hurricane updates). This time they were right. But only a little bit. Around 3 PM it started to clear up and then we had nice sunny afternoon.

Storm update (click the map to enlarge):

Hurricane Fred is very slow, expecting to die by Tuesday. New system is forming by Africa that we have to watch. Other 2 systems are above USA but they won’t affect Dominican weather

Well the new strom forming by African coast doesn’r seam to be heading our way, so we don’t have to worry about it (so far). the winds are blowing it more north so even if it chages the dirrection, it would be too high to reach our island.

Current weather in Bayahibe, south coast of  Dominican Republic – today was nice and sunny, temperature 88 F / 31 C, light wind, water temperature 86 F /30 C, good visibility.

Bayahibe weather Sept 7, 2009

Storm Erika came at 3:15 AM showing us her last breath.

It started, like most of the depressions and storms by Africa, and it appeared it was going to hit the Hispaniola Island straight full blast.  Then it started heading north, gaining more power. It looked like it would pass Puerto Rico from the north, continue further to the west and strike the north coast of the Dominican Republic. But suddenly, it started loosing the strength and speed, coming slowly from the south, displaying all she had left.

But what a show that was. It came big, waking up everybody with a ripping sound of the thunder. The sky was lit up constantly for about an hour and half, one loud thunder after another, all accompanied by pouring rain. And then it slowly moved west, not even reaching Santo Domingo …. died …. disappeared.

This morning was sunny again, like nothing had happened through the night. Only big puddles left to show that there was a storm, but dried quickly by the hot sun.

So what is coming next and when? Couple new disturbances were getting organized by the African coast as usual, but it’s too soon to tell. It might not even show on the next update.

How is the weather in Dominican Republic today? This is the most common question people ask me almost every day. Not to many realize how big the island is and how different it can be at each corner of the country. I can only speak for the south coast.

As you can see on the above pictures, the sky above Bayahibe looks almost the same like yesterday. More white clouds, that look like a cotton candy, big and fluffy, are gliding slowly over. They might be very different by tomorrow.

We can expect some darker clouds bringing rain due to storm Erika. It’s getting closer, almost reaching Puerto Rico now, and continuing more to the west then to the north. Even though it should be passing the island on the north side, we are ready for a wet weekend. Or is it going to surprise us again like storm Ana or Bill? We should know the answer soon.

Storm Erika, that we are carefully watching right now, is coming most likely our way. At one moment it looked like it was going more north again, like the previous storms. But somehow it turned more west, approaching Puerto Rico and then Hispaniola Island, where we are.

According to the official weather websites, it should reach the east side of the country (Punta Cana area) Friday morning, then continue along the north coast and pass Dominican Republic by Sunday morning. That is, if the storm doesn’t change its course.

This morning was nice and sunny, like most of the days here in Bayahibe, south coast of this beautiful country.

Click the picture to enlarge

Hurricane Bill was heading our way and we were expecting a big hit, as the prediction was hurricane 3 or more. Like always, the weather is very unpredictable. While waiting for Ana to hit directly Dominican Republic, we were of course watching the movement of Bill.

But luckily it took a course more north then the original expectation and wasn’t coming even close to the island. Hope that any other possible hurricanes during this season will follow the same path.