The table for Jamaica is as follows, but it must be remembered that most of the troops are now quartered at camps at a moderate elevation above the town, where it is considerably cooler than at the sea level.
| Kingston, Jamaica. Lat. 17° 50′ N.; Long.76° 42′ W. | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Month | Mean Monthly Maxima | Mean Monthly Minima | Mean Relative Humidity % | Mean Monthly Rainfall | ||||
| F. | C. | F. | C. | 7 a.m. | 4 p.m. | Ins. | Mm. | |
| January | 86·2 | 30·1 | 66·7 | 19·3 | 84 | 63 | 3·79 | 96·4 |
| February | 85·3 | 29·5 | 67·0 | 19·4 | 81 | 65 | 2·62 | 66·5 |
| March | 85·4 | 29·6 | 67·8 | 19·9 | 84 | 65 | 2·86 | 73·0 |
| April | 86·5 | 30·3 | 71·1 | 21·8 | 83 | 66 | 4·50 | 114·3 |
| May | 87·8 | 31·0 | 73·2 | 22·9 | 73 | 70 | 9·56 | 243·0 |
| June | 89·0 | 31·7 | 73·4 | 23·0 | 72 | 66 | 4·77 | 121·1 |
| July | 89·8 | 32·0 | 73·3 | 22·9 | 73 | 60 | 6·51 | 165·6 |
| August | 89·9 | 32·1 | 73·3 | 22·9 | 80 | 63 | 7·12 | 181·0 |
| September | 89·3 | 31·8 | 74·1 | 23·4 | 83 | 68 | 10·37 | 263·0 |
| October | 88·0 | 31·1 | 73·5 | 23·1 | 88 | 69 | 6·50 | 165·1 |
| November | 87·3 | 30·7 | 70·9 | 22·2 | 85 | 68 | 6·53 | 176·0 |
| December | 85·6 | 29·8 | 68·2 | 20·2 | 83 | 58 | 5·53 | 140·0 |
Even Trinidad, the most southerly of all the islands in no way rivals the East Indies either in temperature or rainfall, the total of the latter being 65·5 ins. (1,663 mm.). Its hottest months, March and September, have a mean temperature of 78·5° F. (25·8° C.), and its coldest, February, of 75·4° F. (24° C.); the absolute extreme temperature of the year being 89·5° F. (31·9° C.) and 64° F. (17·9° C.). The highest temperature for any island is 100° F. (37·8° C.) at Havana, but from its landlocked position this place appertains more to the climatic conditions of the mainland than to the islands in general.
South America.
—The greater part of the tropical portion of the southern division of the western continent comes within the influence of the north-east Trades, which sweep up from the sea an enormous volume of watery vapour, which is precipitated gradually as the air current passes across the land. The second great factor in the determination of its climate is the position of the enormous mountain range of the Andes, quite close to the western coast, and of such a height as to cut off practically the last drops of moisture brought by the Trades, so as to leave the narrow belt of country between the Andes and the Pacific with a rainfall so scanty as to be in some instances almost negligible, as is the case with Lima, amounting to little more than an inch and a half in the year. So vast, however, is the amount of moisture imported by the Trades that the supply lasts out well, quite to the foot of the Andes, the rainfall of Manaos, half-way across, being rather greater than that of the east coast; but once the mountains are passed the change is abrupt and enormous. Unfortunately, however, when one sets one’s self to plot out the change as represented by a line of observations carried across the continent, one finds one’s self at once met by the difficulty that there is very little exact information to be obtained, as the all-absorbing interests of the ever-changing political barometer leaves the population little time to study the mercurial instrument, and they appear to be much fonder of playing with repeating rifles than with aneroids. Practically speaking, there is little exact information to be obtained for places at any distance from the coast, and on this account the tables given below refer almost exclusively to the littoral regions, and any attempt at anything beyond remarks of the most general character is out of the question.
Quite at the southern boundary of our limits we have the first-class observatory of San Paolo, which although but little outside the geographical, tropical zone, enjoys a temperature which shows that we are rapidly leaving warm climates behind, for the climate is already milder than most localities in the subtropical zone of the old world.
| San Paolo. 23° 33′ S.; 46° 38′ W.E.F., 2,400. | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Month | Mean Monthly Temperature | Mean Monthly Maxima | Mean Monthly Minima | Relative Humidity | Mean Monthly Rainfall | Number of Rainy Days | ||||
| F. | C. | F. | C. | F. | C. | Ins. | Mm. | |||
| January | 68·2 | 20·1 | 77·2 | 25·1 | 61·7 | 16·5 | 86 | 7·08 | 180 | 18 |
| February | 68·9 | 20·5 | 78·8 | 26·0 | 62·7 | 17·0 | 86 | 8·23 | 208 | 12 |
| March | 67·4 | 19·6 | 77·2 | 25·1 | 61·8 | 16·6 | 87 | 5·96 | 152 | 19 |
| April | 63·5 | 17·5 | 73·4 | 23·0 | 57·5 | 14·2 | 87 | 2·84 | 72 | 14 |
| May | 61·0 | 16·1 | 72·0 | 22·2 | 52·3 | 11·2 | 80 | 1·90 | 48·3 | 6 |
| June | 56·8 | 13·8 | 69·7 | 20·9 | 47·5 | 8·6 | 80 | 0·48 | 12·3 | 4 |
| July | 61·0 | 16·1 | 71·0 | 21·7 | 52·8 | 11·6 | 78 | 1·93 | 48·9 | 10 |
| August | 61·0 | 16·1 | 69·7 | 20·9 | 55·2 | 12·9 | 83 | 2·30 | 58·4 | 17 |
| September | 62·0 | 16·7 | 72·8 | 22·7 | 55·0 | 12·8 | 81 | 1·02 | 26·2 | 7 |
| October | 65·8 | 18·8 | 78·0 | 28·6 | 58·5 | 14·7 | 79 | 0·77 | 20·0 | 5 |
| November | 64·4 | 18·0 | 76·0 | 24·4 | 57·2 | 14·0 | 79 | 3·57 | 89·5 | 14 |
| December | 80·5 | 26·9 | 79·0 | 26·1 | 63·5 | 17·5 | 84 | 8·74 | 222 | 23 |
With a total rainfall of 44·77 ins. (1,137 mm.) and absolute extremes of temperature of 98° F. (36·5° C.) and 55° F. (12·9° C), the climate, though perhaps not bracing, can never be unpleasant. The shore is here washed by a warm southerly current from the equatorial regions, whereas on the west coast the inshore current is a northerly one from the antarctic regions. On this account it is necessary to go a good deal to the geographical north to select a place on the west coast for comparison of the rainfall in the same isotherm.
| Molendo. Lat. 17° 5′ S.; Long. 72° 0′ W. (The Port of Arequipain South of Peru.) | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Month | Mean Monthly Temperature | Mean Monthly Maxima | Mean Monthly Minima | Monthly Rainfall | ||||
| F. | C. | F. | C. | F. | C. | Ins. | Mm. | |
| January | 72·3 | 22·4 | 79·4 | 26·3 | 66·7 | 19·3 | 0 | 0 |
| February | 72·8 | 22·7 | 79·5 | 26·4 | 67·5 | 19·7 | 0·08 | 2 |
| March | 71·5 | 21·9 | 78·0 | 25·6 | 66·0 | 18·9 | 0 | 0 |
| April | 68·2 | 20·1 | 74·8 | 23·8 | 63·4 | 17·4 | 0·08 | 2 |
| May | 65·8 | 18·8 | 72·7 | 22·7 | 62·8 | 17·1 | 0·17 | 4 |
| June | 63·0 | 17·2 | 68·5 | 20·3 | 57·8 | 14·3 | 0·6 | 1 |
| July | 60·9 | 16·0 | 66·0 | 18·9 | 55·7 | 13·2 | 0 | 0 |
| August | 59·5 | 15·3 | 65·0 | 18·3 | 54·7 | 12·6 | 0·23 | 6 |
| September | 61·2 | 16·2 | 67·0 | 19·4 | 56·0 | 13·3 | 0·06 | 1 |
| October | 63·3 | 17·4 | 70·0 | 21·1 | 57·3 | 14·1 | 0·08 | 2 |
| November | 66·3 | 19·1 | 73·0 | 22·8 | 60·2 | 15·7 | 0·08 | 2 |
| December | 70·8 | 21·6 | 78·2 | 25·7 | 64·7 | 18·2 | 0·06 | 1 |
| Year | 60·4 | 19·1 | 72·7 | 22·6 | 61·0 | 16·1 | 0·83 | 21 |
| Table of Temperature Data of Places in South America. | |||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Place | Latitude | Longitude | Eleva- tion in Feet | Mean Temperature of Year | Maximum Temperature of Year | Minimum Temperature of Year | Hottest Month | Coldest Month | |||||||
| Name | Mean Temperature | Name | Mean Temperature | ||||||||||||
| F. | C. | F. | C. | F. | C. | F. | C. | F. | C. | ||||||
| Northern Coast, on Atlantic Seaboard. | |||||||||||||||
| Caracas, Venezuela | 10° 30′ N. | 66° 55′ W. | 3,000 | 71·2 | 21·8 | 79·7 | 26·5 | 57·8 | 14·3 | May | 74·0 | 23·3 | January | 68·5 | 20·3 |
| La Guayra, port | 10° 37′ N. | 67° 0′ W. | — | 78·2 | 25·7 | — | — | — | — | September | 80·7 | 27·0 | Feb.-Mar. | 75·7 | 24·3 |
| Tovar | 10° 26′ N. | 67° 20′ W. | 6,000 | 58.0 | 14·4 | — | — | — | — | April | 59·6 | 15·3 | January | 54·5 | 12·5 |
| Western Littoral—Colombia, Ecuador, and Peru. | |||||||||||||||
| Medellin | 6° 10′ N. | 75° 45′ W. | 4,676 | 70·0 | 21·1 | 85·0 | 29·4 | 56·5 | 13·6 | February | 71·0 | 21·7 | November | 68·5 | 20·3 |
| Bogota | 4° 35′ N. | 71° 14′ W. | 8,650 | 58·0 | 14·4 | 72·0 | 22·2 | 45·8 | 7·7 | Mar.-April | 58·7 | 14·8 | July | 56·8 | 13·8 |
| Quito | 0° 14′ S. | 78° 32′ W. | 9,300 | 56·3 | 13·5 | 73·5 | 23·1 | 38·2 | 3·4 | Dec.-Jan. | 56·7 | 13·7 | Sept.-Oct. | 56·2 | 13·4 |
| Antisana | 0° 21′ S. | 78° 6′ W. | 13,200 | 40·8 | 4·9 | 52·0 | 11·0 | 21·0 | -6·2 | January | 43·2 | 6·2 | July-Aug. | 37·3 | 3·0 |
| Guayaquil | 2° 10′ S. | 79° 56′ W. | — | 80·7 | 27·0 | 95·0 | 35·0 | 66·2 | 19·0 | January | 83·4 | 28·5 | July | 77·8 | 25·5 |
| Lima | 12° 4′ S. | 79° 21′ W. | 530 | 66·2 | 19·0 | 88·2 | 31·2 | 48·5 | 9·2 | February | 73·7 | 23·2 | July | 59·0 | 15·0 |
| Anca | 18° 25′ S. | 70° 22′ W. | — | 67·5 | 19·7 | 82·4 | 28·0 | 56·0 | 13·3 | Dec.-Jan. | 71·7 | 22·0 | August | 63·2 | 17·3 |
| Salta | 24° 46′ S. | 65° 24′ W. | 4,000 | 63·2 | 17·3 | 109·4 | 43·0 | 23·0 | -5·0 | December | 72·2 | 22·3 | June | 50·8 | 10·5 |
| Copiapo | 27° 22′ S. | 70° 23′ W. | 1,200 | 61·5 | 16·4 | 87·3 | 30·7 | 37·4 | 3·0 | January | 69·8 | 21·0 | July | 53·2 | 11·8 |
| North-East Coast—British Guiana. | |||||||||||||||
| Georgetown | 6° 50′ N. | 58° 8′ W. | — | 79·0 | 26·1 | 90·0 | 32·2 | 70·0 | 21·1 | Sept.-Oct. | 80·7 | 27·0 | Jan.-Feb. | 77·5 | 25·3 |
| Dutch Guiana. | |||||||||||||||
| Burnside | 5° 53′ N. | 50° 23′ W. | — | 78·7 | 25·9 | 92·8 | 33·8 | 68·7 | 20·4 | October | 80·0 | 26·7 | February | 77·3 | 25·2 |
| Paramaribo | 5° 44′ N. | 50° 13′ W. | — | 78·7 | 25·9 | 94·4 | 34·6 | 67·8 | 19·9 | September | 80·8 | 27·1 | January | 77·2 | 25·1 |
| French Guiana. | |||||||||||||||
| Cayenne | 4° 56′ N. | 52° 18′ W. | — | 79·5 | 26·4 | 94·4 | 34·6 | 68·0 | 20·0 | Sept.-Oct. | 81·4 | 27·4 | January | 77·5 | 25·3 |
| Brazil, Amazon Coast. | |||||||||||||||
| Para | 1° 30′ S. | 48° 24′ W. | — | 78·5 | 25·8 | — | — | — | — | June | 79·5 | 26·4 | January | 77·7 | 25·4 |
| Interior of Brazil. | |||||||||||||||
| Manaos | 3° 8′ S. | 60° 0′ W. | 150 | 79·0 | 26·0 | — | — | — | — | November | 79·8 | 26·6 | April | 77·0 | 25·0 |
| San Antonio | 9° 5′ S. | 64° 0′ W. | — | 78·0 | 25·6 | — | — | — | — | October | 79·4 | 26·3 | June | 76·8 | 24·9 |
| Peruvian frontier | 11° 30′ S. | 68° 30′ W. | 650 | 77·4 | 25·2 | — | — | — | — | December | 80·0 | 26·7 | June | 72·2 | 22·3 |
| Cuyaba | 15° 86′ S. | 56° 7′ W. | 700 | 77·5 | 25·3 | 105·8 | 41·0 | 48·2 | 9·0 | Sept.-Oct. | 80·7 | 27·0 | June | 69·5 | 20·8 |
| Uberaba | 19° 44′ S. | 47° 45′ W. | 2,600 | 70·3 | 21·3 | 96·8 | 36·0 | 36·5 | 2·5 | February | 74·2 | 23·4 | July | 64·0 | 17·8 |
| Western Central Brazil. | |||||||||||||||
| Pernambuco | 8° 4′ S. | 34° 51′ W. | — | 78·5 | 25·8 | 97·5 | 36·4 | 64·5 | 18·1 | February | 81·7 | 27·6 | July | 73·7 | 23·2 |
| Victoria | 8° 9′ S. | 35° 27′ W. | 550 | 76·7 | 24·8 | 99·4 | 37·4 | 57·3 | 14·1 | February | 79·5 | 26·4 | July | 72·8 | 22·7 |
| Colony of Isabella | 8° 45′ S. | 35° 42′ W. | 750 | 74·2 | 23·4 | 91·2 | 32·9 | 56·2 | 13·4 | February | 76·6 | 24·7 | July | 70·0 | 21·1 |
| Bahia | 12° 59′ S. | 38° 36′ W. | 200 | 77·8 | 25·5 | 89·0 | 31·7 | 70·7 | 21·5 | February | 80·8 | 27·1 | July | 73·7 | 23·2 |
| Rio Janeiro | 22° 54′ S. | 43° 10′ W. | 200 | 72·5 | 22·3 | 97·7 | 36·6 | 55·2 | 12·9 | February | 77·2 | 25·1 | July | 67·5 | 19·7 |
| Joinville | 26° 19′ S. | 49° 43′ W. | — | 68·0 | 20·0 | — | — | — | — | February | 75·5 | 24·2 | July | 61·5 | 16·4 |
| Villa Formosa | 26° 13′ S. | 58° 5′ W. | 250 | 70·2 | 21·2 | 100·3 | 38·0 | 37·7 | 3·2 | January | 79·2 | 26·2 | July | 61·3 | 16·3 |