Jamaica recorded eight per cent above average annual rainfall in 2024 but its distribution was significantly uneven throughout the year, with the island being impacted by severe flooding and drought over the period.

According to data from the Meteorological Service of Jamaica, rainfall for the entire 2024 outperformed the average for the last 30 years by over 100 millimetres (mm).

The average rainfall across Jamaica last year was 1,985 mm, or 117 mm more than the average 1,868 mm measured between 1991 and 2020, and the highest since 2017 when average rainfall was 2,157 mm.

July and November together accounted for a third of the country’s rainfall last year following Hurricane Beryl and Tropical Storm Rafael in each month, respectively. On average, across the 14 parishes, 300 mm of rain was measured in July, and 342 mm in November, the highest monthly averages since August 2021 when Tropical Storm Grace affected the island.

The rapid increase in rainfall over a short period of time due to the storms, and the associated flooding, caused extensive damage to the nation’s road network and the destruction of $4 billion in crops across St Elizabeth and other parishes.

Despite the storm-driven uptick, rainfall for eight months of 2024 was lower than the 30-year average.

Head of applied meteorology at the Met office, Ronald Moody, attributed the inconsistency to climate variability.

“I’m not thinking that its climate change. It’s more than likely climate variability. So there are going to be years when you have variation and that will translate into the rainfall that the island receives. And that is what happens year to year,” he told the Jamaica Observer.

No matter the cause, for the nation’s farmers especially, the fluctuating rainfall is problematic.

In February 2025, the Government allocated $134 million for drought relief as seven parishes recorded below average rainfall at the start of the year.

“The impact of this deficit is particularly concerning for farmers who rely on regular and sufficient rainfall to sustain their crops and livestock. Even in cases where some parishes experienced wetter-than-normal conditions, disparities in rainfall distribution have led to inconsistencies in water availability,” said Minister of Agriculture Floyd Green.

He said the worst-affected parishes continue to be Westmoreland, St Elizabeth, and Hanover, and the central parishes of Manchester and Clarendon. The assessment was supported by the data from the Met office.

“We are currently in our dry season. It’s a time of the year where we get much less rainfall; that dryness can also lead to what we call meteorological or agricultural drought,” Moody explained.

“The panic is, how dry will it become? How little rainfall will there be? [But] it’s something that we are used to. You know, we just need to do what we need to do to ensure that we have water,” Moody said, encouraging Jamaicans not to panic but to prepare.

Highlighting Green’s plan to create artificial ponds as a possible solution for residents on the south side of the island, Moody said introducing catchment facilities could help secure the nation’s supply.

“We need to start changing the way we do things,” he said, adding, “[For] long-term measures we have to, at some point, have a major water storage facility somewhere.”