The climate of Santo Domingo is that of the torrid zone and is characterized by heat and humidity. Yet the heat rarely becomes as intense as it sometimes does in the United States in summer and the nights are always cool and pleasant. The mean annual temperature of Santo Domingo City is between 77° and 78° Fahrenheit, and the variation between the mean temperature of the hottest and coolest month is hardly more than 6°. The highest temperature recorded in Santo Domingo City in a period of seven years was 95°. The average highest temperature in July and August is between 91° and 92°. In the mountainous regions of the interior there is a noticeable difference in temperature; it is necessary to sleep under a blanket every night of the year and the temperature sometimes falls below the freezing point. The pleasantest months of the year are from December to February.
The heat of the climate is tempered and rendered bearable by cooling breezes which are seldom absent. During the day the prevailing breeze is from the east, but shortly after sunset a breeze sets in from the interior, blowing out to the ocean, and continues until after sunrise.
The heavy rains also tend to cool the atmosphere. The island is so cut up by mountain ranges running in different directions that there is no regular rainy season for the whole country. In the south, the west and the interior, the rainy season is generally reckoned as lasting from April to November, while in the eastern section the rainy season is from May to December. These seasons are not absolute, for at times there are heavy rains during what should be the dry season, while occasionally there are many days of drouth during the wet months. The rains are rarely long-continued drizzles, but instead for several hours the floodgates of heaven are opened wide, after which the sky clears and remains serene until the following day. The amount of rainfall varies in different parts of the country, being lightest in the arid districts of Monte Cristi, Azua and Barahona.
The United States Weather Bureau maintained a station at Santo Domingo City for a number of years and from the observations made the following data are compiled:
OBSERVATIONS FOR SANTO DOMINGO CITY
Highest Lowest Mean Average
Mean temperature temperature relative Average number
temperature recorded recorded humidity rainfall of days
°F °F °F per cl. inches with rain
January 74 86 61 85 2.01 11
February 74 88 60 82 .96 8
March 75 87 59 79 2.15 9
April 76 91 59 80 6.86 14
May 78 88 67 83 6.29 13
June 78 90 67 86 7.42 18
July 79 92 67 86 8.34 18
August 80 95 68 84 6.77 17
September 79 93 69 85 7.63 16
October 79 92 67 86 9.63 15
November 78 91 64 85 2.76 11
December 76 89 61 87 2.09 11
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Annual 77 95 59 84 62.91 161
Santo Domingo has at intervals felt the violence of the destructive hurricanes which occasionally ravage the West Indies. They often combine the features of a tornado and a cloudburst, and while the furious whirlwind wrecks houses, uproots trees and strips forests bare of leaves, the accompanying severe rains swell the streams to abnormal height and cause extensive inundations. The hurricane season is reckoned as beginning in July and ending in October and when during this period a sudden fall of the barometer announces the proximity of unusual atmospheric disturbances all shipping keeps to the harbors and the dwellers on shore take measures to guard against the devastating rage of the wind.
The first West Indian hurricane of which we have any record was that of 1502 which destroyed the first city of Santo Domingo and sank a Spanish fleet. More recent storms felt in Santo Domingo were those of 1834, 1865, 1876 and 1883. That of September 6, 1883, desolated the southwestern provinces of the Republic, and the rise of the Ozama River swept away the bridge connecting the capital with the opposite shore. The hurricane of 1899 which laid waste the nearby island of Porto Rico was scarcely felt in Santo Domingo. The latest unusually heavy storm was that which swept over the Republic during the first week of November, 1909, and caused much damage, especially in the Cibao. A sudden storm in the afternoon of August 29, 1916, accompanied by a kind of tidal wave, surprised the American 14,500 ton armored cruiser "Memphis" at anchor in the roadstead of Santo Domingo City and wrecked it against the rocky shore.
With regard to health conditions, the Dominican Republic has been maligned because of the fevers that decimated the English and French armies in the Haitian wars of a century ago. It must be remembered, however, that the French part of the island being shut out from the eastern breezes by high mountain ranges is hotter than the Spanish part, and that the European troops, improperly clad and fed, underwent great hardships and were ignorant of sanitary precautions. Among travelers it is the concensus of opinion that climatic conditions in the Dominican Republic are as favorable as in any other tropical country. Far from presenting dangers to health there are few districts in the Republic which with proper hotel accommodations would not offer delightful refuge to invalids seeking to escape the rigors of the northern winter. The salubrity of the climate is reflected in the sturdy character of the peasantry, and exemplified by numerous cases of unusual longevity. In the towns the death-rate is somewhat higher than in the country regions; but the very fact that in spite of uncleaned streets, reeking garbage heaps, and defiance of sanitary precepts by the majority of the inhabitants, there has been so comparatively little sickness, bears strong witness to the healthfulness of the country. By a law of 1912 boards of health were established, and under American impulse more attention is now being given to sanitation.