May Questions 13-20

MSGARMYGIRL · Post by **MSGARMYGIRL** » Fri Mar 05, 2010 11:43 am

How is the weather in May, is it rainy, what is the temp? How are the skeeters? How are the noseeums? Is anyone else going during that time frame?

TrvlJohn · Post by **TrvlJohn** » Fri Mar 05, 2010 2:32 pm

We were on STJ last year from May 20-30 and going back this year May 15-30.

Did not rain much when we were there last year, but it was not sunny either. Overcast most days, but that was OK. It was still the best vacation of my life.

It had rained a lot a few weeks before we got there last year so there were a lot of bugs. It wasn't bad until sundown. We watched the sunset on Maho one night and the bugs were incredible, but the sunset was worth it.

I bought some good anti-bug juice with a high % of deet at REI before we left and it worked pretty well. Also, when the bugs are bad most places have cans of OFF for people to use.

If I am going to be bit by a mosquito then I would rather get bit on St. John.

Maybe we will run into each other while we are there.

-John

Diana2 · Post by **Diana2** » Fri Mar 05, 2010 4:52 pm

There's no way to predict. I think they had 2 weeks straight of heavy rains in May last year (first 2 weeks of May). That's very very unusual and I hope it doesn't repeat itself this year as we'll be there from May 1-15. You can plan on LOTS of skeeters about 10 days after a big rain.

hugo · Post by **hugo** » Fri Mar 05, 2010 9:44 pm

May is the month with the highest variability of rainfall, meaning it can be quite dry or very, very wet. The very wet is historically quite common, but less so in the past 10-15 years. The water is usually warmed up, and the weather can be quite warm. It's very hard to predict anything this year, because we're having the hottest winter in history, and the water has never had much chance to cool off.

nancyr84 · Post by **nancyr84** » Fri Mar 05, 2010 10:07 pm

We have been to St John 4 times all in the first 2 weeks of May. The first 3 times the weather was good, our luck ran out last year. It rained the whole week we were there. My guess is that you will have beautiful weather, you will have a great time do not worry.
Nancy

Boston Mike · Post by **Boston Mike** » Sat Mar 06, 2010 7:13 am

We will be down there May 14-22 as we usually do. We have been lucky the last couple of years with nice weather. Skeeters never bothered me though. Maybe it was all that Patron flowing through the blood.

petepie · Post by **petepie** » Wed Apr 21, 2010 8:56 pm

We were there last May too and it was overcast and rainy. A bummer compared to prior trips (in April and January) with bright blue skies. The biggest problem was the mosquito bloom that came out after the rains -- I'd never seen swarms like that.

The good news is that when it did rain, it was just warm rain, not thunderstorms, so you could still sit on the beach and stay in the water to snorkel. The squall would pass in about 20 minutes or so, and there were really only a few days with continuous rain. I just like the postcard clear skies!

I understand that last May was unusually rainy though, so hopefully that won't happen to you!

tropicdawg · Post by **tropicdawg** » Thu Apr 22, 2010 9:46 am

We go to STJ every year the middle two weeks of May. The weather has always been fabulous with maybe one or two nightime storms but, like other posters have said, last May was different. We arrived May 9 but the island had torrential rains (flood like)the week before. The mosquitos were so bad on the North Shore we really didn't spend much time over there. These weren't noseeums either - they were big and aggessive and out in mid-day. The South Shore (Salt Pond and Lamshur) which is the arid side of the island and thankfully the side we stay on was much more comfortable.

The best thing to do is to keep an eye on the rainfall to guage skeeters. We rent a villa with no A/C and I am never miserable, but then I am from the Gulf Coast and I LOVE warm weather. As far as overcast or rainy skys - still got a nice tan and the showers never lasted long. The tradeoff was a beautifully green island!

Nancy_B · Post by **Nancy_B** » Thu Apr 22, 2010 10:06 am

Tropicdawg, we probably see each other all the time on St. John and don't know each other as they are the two weeks that we are there too!

Agree with all other posters. The weather is hard to predict. We survived the horrible rain and skeeters last year. You will be so happy to be on St. John, you'll make the best of every minute.

Hope to see you all on island!

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