The deluge on Grand Cayman on Monday morning served as a good reminder that one of the rainiest months of the year had arrived. 

Historically, it rains more in September and October than any other months. Statistically October used to be the wettest month of the year here, but that’s been surpassed slightly by September in the recent statistics.  

The 30-year monthly average rainfall between 1971 and 2000 for October was 8.55 inches of rain, while for September it was 8.04 inches. However, the 30-year rainfall monthly average between 1981 and 2010, which the National Weather Service started using this year, has September at 8.74 inches, slightly above October’s 8.63 inches. 

This year, there’s good chance October will surpass September’s rainfall significantly because only 5.6 inches of rain fell last month. 

Cayman Islands National Weather Service Meteorologist Avalon Porter said Grand Cayman’s forecast calls for between a half inch and an inch of rain every day through Wednesday. 

“There may be a slight clearing Tuesday afternoon,” he said, adding, however, that more rain is expected Wednesday before things start to clear up on Thursday. 

The rainfall will be welcomed by farmers. For the second time in three years, Cayman experienced considerably less rainfall than average through the first three quarters of the year. Cayman was heading for a record low rainfall amount in 2009 before 9.54 inches fell in September and a whopping 16.16 inches fell in October, helping to bring the total for the year to 49.99 inches, just a little below the average of 56.18 inches. So far this year, only 25.80 inches of rain have fallen through the end of September. If just the average amount of rain falls the rest of the year, only 43.27 inches will fall for the entire year, 23 per cent less than average.