Het weer in Castries (Saint Lucia) in december

Regulars are specific this counts as peak season here, calm seas and minimal seaweed the norm, any rain typically arriving in short bursts lasting a few hours at most rather than settling in for a full day. Our row backs that hot, genuinely wet read, 29.1C reading as a hot 31C, over 23C nights feeling 25C, with 41.8mm of rain spread across 14.3 days and humidity at 75 percent. Regulars are consistent a beautiful, sunny, breezy stretch in the mid-80s Fahrenheit is a common report even in the technically coolest month for locals. Genuinely excellent conditions overall make this one of the most popular windows to visit. The sea sits at a bath-warm 27.9C. The record: 10.2 hours of sun, a 23.9 kph wind and AQI 39.

May is the last month of the dry season here, which runs December through May, and regulars call the handover to the wet months an unremarkable one - the same hot days and nights with occasional showers, storms that come in fast and leave just as quickly. Our row backs that: 37.3mm across 11.4 days is a real but modest total. Air is 30.5C reading as 33C, though at 72.4 percent humidity it is milder than the number implies, and they credit the constant wind off the ocean, which our column carries at a genuine 24.1 kph. Nights hold 24.9C, the sea 28C. Prices ease and booking gets easier as the dry season's crowds thin out. The record: 11.7 hours of sun and AQI 48.

January sits in the dry season, January to March, which is also the expensive one. Regulars describe the rain rather than denying it: quick bursts of five or ten minutes, more often at night than by day, and a full day of rain rare enough to be remembered. That is exactly our row - 34.7mm spread over 14.6 precipitation days is under two and a half millimetres each. They add a geography to it: through these months the rain falls more on the interior than the coasts, and it can be pouring in one part of the island while another is bone dry. Days run to 28.4C with an easterly breeze our row measures at 24.3 kph. The record: 22.3C nights, 10.5 hours of sun and a 26.9C sea.

February, March and April are the driest months here and April is both the hottest and still high season - regulars describe good breezes, plenty of hot sun, middling humidity and some passing showers. Our row's 12.4 precipitation days spread just 34.2mm between them, under three millimetres a day, which is exactly what a passing shower measures. The trade winds at 22.8 kph are why 30C reads as only 32C. On sargassum they give a rule rather than a forecast: April is usually a low month for it, and the west coast is rarely affected at all, so a west-coast base removes most of the risk whatever the season does. The record: 23.9C nights, humidity 71 percent, 11.5 hours of sun, a 27.2C sea and AQI 46.

February is the middle of St Lucia's dry season - February, March and April are the driest - and the forum's description is mid to low 80s F by day, high 70s at night, a decent breeze, lower humidity, and rain that comes as a passing shower or the occasional cloudburst rather than a wet day. Our row has exactly that shape: 11.2 precipitation days carrying only 27.9mm between them. The wind is the season's other feature, with the east trades running hard through January and February - 25.4 kph here - which is what keeps the heat comfortable and, depending which coast you are on, occasionally puts red flags on the beach. The record: 28.6C days that feel like 30C, 22.5C nights, 10.7 hours of sun and a 26.4C sea.