The year 2024 was Earth’s warmest since records began 175 years ago, according to the World Meteorological Organization. For Cayman, an active hurricane season also made 2024 the wettest year in nearly two decades.
Professor Celeste Saulo, WMO’s secretary general, said the data contained in the global ‘State of the Climate’ report, issued this month, was a wake-up call about the increasing risks to our lives, economies and the planet — a sentiment echoed by local officials.
“Over the course of 2024, our oceans continued to warm [and] sea levels continued to rise,” Saulo said.
Data contained in the report shows that between 1993 and 2002, global mean sea level rose at 2.1 millimetres per year, but between 2015 and 2024, the rate more than doubled to 4.7 millimetres per year.
Frozen parts of Earth’s surface are melting and glaciers are in retreat. Meanwhile, according to Saulo, “Extreme weather continues to have devastating consequences around the world.”
Impacts on Cayman
Lisa-Ann Hurlston-McKenzie, a senior policy advisor for Cayman’s Ministry of Sustainability & Climate Resiliency, said, “The WMO report highlights a continuing global trend in rising sea levels at ever more alarming rates.
“This is extremely concerning for small, low-lying countries like the Cayman Islands when combined with other factors such as increased severity of tropical storms and hurricanes which accelerate beach erosion, and cause more frequent and extensive property and infrastructure damage from coastal and inland flooding.”
Edward Howard, managing director of the National Roads Authority, noted that 2024 was also the wettest year in the Cayman Islands since 2005.
“Drain wells in areas such as Newlands, Prospect, South Sound and parts of West Bay were significantly less effective due to an unusually high water table,” Howard said.
“In some neighbourhoods, water was flowing up through the wells, so we had to resort to capping the wells temporarily and using pumps to reduce the flooding.”
Howard added that the National Roads Authority “has been actively taking measures to improve drainage capacity and flood response for some of the more severely impacted areas, based on lessons learned from last year’s unusual weather events”.
Statistics from the Cayman Islands National Weather Service show that in 2024, the Cayman Islands experienced 72.7 inches of total rainfall.
This total is 16.7 inches above the 30-year average, and according to the weather service, the higher-than-average rainfall amount was largely influenced by significant hurricane activity, which contributed to nearly a quarter of the year’s total rainfall.
Follow the global trend, the year was also a hot one for Cayman. 2024’s average temperature in Grand Cayman was 83.7 degrees Fahrenheit, which exceeded the 30-year average by 1.3 degrees and was 0.5 degrees warmer than 2023.
The weather service also said the past decade shows a 1 degree Fahrenheit temperature increase in Grand Cayman and a 1.2 degree increase in the Brac, indicating a steady warming trend, which they say is likely to continue in 2025.
Threat planning
Among the potential impacts of the warming temperatures noted by the weather service are changes to plant growth cycles, increased evaporation rates leading to decreased water availability for agriculture and the natural environment, and potentially increased energy consumption in the urban setting for cooling of indoor environments.
Hurlston-McKenzie believes rising sea levels could also “change the quality of our groundwater and freshwater lenses and their ability to support agricultural activities vital to the food security of our ever-growing population”.
She said the Cabinet-approved ‘Climate Change Policy 2024-2050’ seeks to have sea-level rise and other weather-related hazards considered in future planning and development activities in the Cayman Islands.
“These events disrupt daily activities like driving to and from work, and receiving basic services, which not only affects economic output but our very way of life,” she said.
According to Hazard Management Cayman Islands Director Dani Coleman, the recent WMO report emphasises the importance of planning ahead for threats.
“Rising sea levels will lead to more issues with flooding, so at HMCI we are doing what we can to understand the risks, plan ahead, build resilience and also to make sure we are prepared, so we can effectively mitigate the threats,” Coleman said.
