Climate

The Dominican Republic isn’t the Dominican Republic without its tropical Caribbean weather. Dominicans experience year-round warm and humid conditions; during the months May-October it is a hotter/muggier season, rather than November-March where it is cooler (“Climate-Dominican Republic,” 2020). That doesn’t seem like winter at all. However, due to its geographical position and island status, they are exposed, more than other countries, to hurricane and tropical storms which in the long run can affect the country’s economy and bring in dangerous hazards (“Current Climate > Climatology,” 2021). In 2017, the Dominican Republic was ranked the 11th most vulnerable country to climate change, due to its high risk of experiencing climate-related hazards, such as floods (“Current Climate > Climatology,” 2021). With that being said, cyclones and hurricanes tend to visit the Dominican Republic often throughout August-September; another important reason they experience such weather conditions between those months is due to the country’s central positioning in the Atlantic hurricane belt, as stated before. This ties in with the interrelationship that the Dominican Republic has with the countries surrounding it. The United States government, through USAID (United States Agency for International Development), has been working hard to overcome “climate change in support of its Dominican neighbor, partner, and friend” (Domingo, 2021). Through its Clean Cities, Blue Oceans program, USAID works hard to attend to the global crisis of marine pollution in the Samaná province located in the Dominican Republic (Domingo, 2021). Also, on the island of Hispaniola, which is home to the Dominican Republic and Haiti, the marine ecosystems have been heavily impacted by pollution, overfishing, and invasive species spread (Domingo, 2021). This signifies the correlation between the Dominican Republic, Haiti, Hispaniola, and the Samaná province; they are all vulnerable to drastic climate change, which can then have an effect on their ecosystem, but thankfully with the help of the USAID, they are able to withstand the damage to an extent.

Since the 1960s, the average number of cold nights in the D.R has decreased by 8.3%, while the average number of cold summer nights has decreased by 14.7% (“Current Climate > Climatology,” 2021). The mean annual temperature has increased by approximately 32.8 degrees Fahrenheit, at an average rate of approximately 32.2 degrees Fahrenheit per decade (“Current Climate > Climatology,” 2021). The D.R has experienced a slight reduction in precipitation due to an increase in dry periods in the northern side of the country in the months May-June and September-October; the Southern areas of the country mainly have two seasons, which are dry winter and rainy summer (“Current Climate > Climatology,” 2021). This backfires on the Northeastern side of the country because it experiences heavier precipitation, while far western and southwestern valleys remain dry.

Figure 3

Written by: Carlton Georges