I am coming to st martin aug 17-26th. I see that the weather forcast has said rain daily 30-60% recently. Is it like the Gulf of Mexico ..... it rains but only lasts a short period of time then it is sun and beautiful or is a down pit that lasts most of the day. We are taking a 7 night catermran from dreams. I just want to prepare myself if it will be wet most of the vacation

Correct, you will have sunshine almost all of the time and will occasionally get a cooling shower.

I think trying to predict weather that far in advance is almost impossible, but that said!!!St.M.s forcast is possible showers every day. For the most part, its a down pour and gone. Of cource your coming in the so called storm season, but unless there are systems in the atlantic close to St.M, your safe... We have found that summer and fall tend to be iffy, but iffy is just that. Good luck..

Same forecast for us. It did rain a little every day but we did not have rain all day. The rain was welcome and refreshing as it was HOT!

Typically we sail in the Carib early to late spring. This year we sailied July 3-17. I found it quite hot on the beaches during the day.

Here is a SXM weather across the year link to an interesting and informative site.

This shows that the Trade Winds and the 18* North Latitude combine to keep the daily highs and lows within a very narrow range year around.

Concerning the rain, St Martin, Anguilla, and St. Barts are the first land masses the trade winds encounter after blowing across the Atlantic since leaving the Azores. When those moisture laden winds hit the mountains they rise in altitude and release moisture in the form of light rainshowers.

On most days it will rain a little while SOMEWHERE on the island for a short period of time, hence the "rain every day" forecasts... There is nothing like the all day rains we experience here in the US mid atlantic states when a warm front moves in.

Check out the data in the link.

There's a colon missing in Bill S's link. try this:
https://weatherspark.com/y/28429/Average-Weather-in-Philipsburg-Sint-Maarten

Thanks, I just fixed it... <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/Wink.gif" alt="" />