From record-breaking heat and one of the driest wet seasons ever recorded, to a major earthquake that briefly placed the Cayman Islands under a tsunami alert, 2025 will be remembered as a year when nature repeatedly tested Cayman’s resilience, even as the islands were spared a direct hit from a hurricane.
According to data from the National Weather Service, Cayman experienced a year defined by climatic extremes that included unusually persistent dryness, elevated temperatures, heightened seismic awareness, and a late-season brush with one of the most powerful hurricanes ever observed in the Atlantic Basin.
Earth shakes, tsunami alert issued
The year began dramatically on 8 Feb., when a magnitude 7.6 earthquake struck approximately 126 miles southwest of Grand Cayman. The event prompted authorities to issue a tsunami alert – a rare occurrence for the Cayman Islands.
Residents were urged to move inland while officials from Hazard Management Cayman Islands monitored the situation alongside international partners. Fortunately, no tsunami materialised, and only light shaking was felt locally.
Several aftershocks followed, including tremors of magnitude 4.8 and 4.2 later that evening.
A further 4.1-magnitude earthquake was felt east-southeast of Grand Cayman on 6 April.
No damage was reported from any of the events, but together they served as a reminder that Cayman sits astride a geologically active plate boundary in the Caribbean region.
A dry start: Second driest January on record
Climatologically, Cayman’s dry season runs from December through April, but 2025 stood out for just how little rain fell.
Statistics from the National Weather Service showed that between December 2024 and the end of April 2025, Grand Cayman recorded just 6.2 inches of rainfall; more than 2 inches below the long-term average of 8.4 inches. January was the second driest January recorded since measurements began in 1957.
Cayman Brac fared even worse, accumulating only 3.8 inches during the same period, a deficit of 5.4 inches compared to average. That ranked as the sixth driest dry season on record for the island.
Despite the lack of rain, temperatures were above average. Grand Cayman’s dry season mean temperature came in at 81.1°F; 1.1°F warmer than normal, while Cayman Brac averaged 81.7°F. The lowest temperature of the season was recorded on 26 Feb. in Grand Cayman at 67.5°F.
Wet season that wasn’t
The traditional rainy season, which runs from May through November, failed to deliver its usual relief.
Grand Cayman recorded just 28.6 inches of rain for the entire wet season, compared to a long-term average of 47.6 inches. The 19-inch deficit meant that 2025 went into the record books as the third driest wet season on record.
Cayman Brac experienced its second driest wet season ever, with just 16.6 inches of rain; nearly half its normal rainfall.
July was particularly stark, with only 0.4 inches recorded across both islands. Even August, which brought above-average rainfall, could not offset the prolonged dryness earlier in the year.
The rainiest single day of 2025 occurred on 7 Aug., when 2.7 inches fell on Grand Cayman.
Heat records fall
If rainfall was scarce, heat was not.
The average wet-season temperature on Grand Cayman was 85.6°F; 1.4°F above the long-term average, making it the second warmest rainy season on record. Cayman Brac ranked third hottest.
The hottest day of the year came on 24 Aug., when Grand Cayman reached 94.8°F, the second-highest temperature ever recorded on the island since records began. Cayman Brac followed closely, hitting 94.6°F on 22 Aug.
High sea-surface temperatures across the Caribbean were a persistent theme throughout the year, a factor closely watched by forecasters for its implications for hurricane development.
The 2025 hurricane season
Forecasts issued by Colorado State University and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration early in the year warned of an above-average hurricane season. Yet, through much of the summer, the Caribbean Sea remained strangely quiet.
High wind shear, Saharan dust outbreaks and a stable tropical atmosphere suppressed storm development, even as ocean temperatures stayed unusually warm. That calm shattered in late October with Hurricane Melissa.
Hurricane Melissa: A historic storm, a Cayman near miss
In late October, Hurricane Melissa intensified with breathtaking speed over the central Caribbean, becoming a Category 5 hurricane with sustained winds of 185 mph; tying records for Atlantic landfall pressure and ranking among the strongest storms ever observed.
Melissa passed 161 miles southwest of Cayman Brac and 247 miles east-southeast of Grand Cayman, sparing the islands from hurricane-force winds. Nevertheless, the system brought rough seas, long-period swells exceeding 10 feet, gusty winds and periods of heavy rain.
Melissa went on to devastate Jamaica, eastern Cuba and parts of the Bahamas, causing widespread destruction and loss of life. For Cayman, it was a sobering reminder of how close catastrophe can come.
Saharan dust and mosquitos
June brought another familiar Caribbean feature: Saharan dust. Large plumes drifted across the Atlantic, suppressing hurricane formation, but degrading air quality and contributing to hazy skies and vivid sunsets.
When rains finally returned in patches, they triggered widespread mosquito hatches, particularly of the black salt marsh mosquito; a nuisance species aggressively biting at dawn and dusk. Control operations by the Mosquito Research and Control Unit ramped up across Grand Cayman.
Technology, forecasting and a look ahead
2025 also marked a year of significant progress in forecasting capability. A new generation of satellites, including NOAA’s GOES-19, became operational, improving real-time monitoring of storms and atmospheric conditions.
Crucially, a long-awaited storm surge and wave inundation model for the Cayman Islands was delivered by the NOAA National Hurricane Center, providing a powerful new planning tool for future hurricanes.
Meanwhile, government approved major investments in CINWS infrastructure, including new observing stations, upgraded radar systems and a new headquarters scheduled to open in 2026.
A year that demands respect
While there was only one hurricane that threatened and very few cold fronts that impacted the Cayman Islands, in the end, 2025 was not defined by a single catastrophic event in Cayman, but by accumulation: heat without relief, rain that never quite arrived, earthquakes that reminded residents of deeper forces, and a hurricane that passed close enough to feel its breath.
It was a year that reinforced an old Cayman truth; preparedness is not seasonal, and resilience is built quietly, long before an alert is issued.
Cayman was fortunate to make it through 2025 without serious weather impacts, but we know full well from our own past experience, what it is like to be on the receiving end of a major hurricane.
When we saw our closest neighbour, Jamaica, take a direct hit from Hurricane Melissa, the local response was immediate; money and relief supplies were collected by churches, businesses, NGOs and members of the community. Government also donated money to support the recovery, and Cayman Airways was among the first planes to touch down in Jamaica loaded with emergency supplies of food, water and tarpaulins.