Those elusive rain clouds

Abstract

We may be just over three months away from the end of the current rainy season but it's certainly not premature to reflect about what is fast becoming a cliche - "yet another dry year". In fact, for the third year running, rainfall falling on these islands during what should be the most plentiful period, November to December, has been below par. Last month, in particular, normally the kingpin of our rainy season, has seen little more than a quarter of its customary bounty, with a damp squib of a monthly total amounting to just 35.3mm, equivalent, to just 30 per cent of the average for the month of December since the 1930s.