Climate controls in Port-au-Prince, Haiti

The capital of my country, Haiti, is Port-au-Prince, at latitude 18° 32' and longitude 72° 20' W. The month with the hottest average temperature is July (86°F) while February is the coldest (80°F), making the annual temperature range 6.0 F°.

http://www.haiti.climatemps.com/temperatures.php


An important determinant of temperature and climate in Port-au-Prince is its position relative to land and water on the island of Hispaniola. The map below shows rainfall from a tropical storm in 2007, demonstrating dramatically the rainfall shadow created by the high mountains bisecting the island.  This leads to generally drier conditions leeward of the mountains and warmer temperatures, due to less cooling as the air rises over the mountains and more compressional heating as it descends.

The source of this map is:
http://www.mappery.com/map-of/Rainfall-Accumulation-from-Tropical-Storm-Noel-over-Dominican-Republic-Oct-27-29-2007-Map

Port-au-Prince is situated on a large harbor where the average sea temperature is about 81°F, with variation as shown below, which must certainly warm and moderate air temperature.

Graph from:

http://www.weather-and-climate.com/average-monthly-water-Temperature-fahrenheit,Port-Au-Prince,Haiti

Altitude as such is not a determinant of temperature in Port-au-Prince, since there are there are coastal towns around the world with vastly differing climates due to other factors. 

An article in The Guardian stated, "Haiti was recently ranked as the most vulnerable country in the world to climate change on an index developed by Maplecroft, a global risk management firm." 

The Maplecroft group reported in 2013 that Honduras, Myanmar and Nicaragua have been identified to be the most affected in the 20-year period from 1992 to 2011.  They are followed by Bangladesh, Haiti and Viet Nam. http://cambioclimaticohn.org/uploaded/content/article/303643999.pdf

Multiple factors combine to create this vulnerability. Increased global temperatures may lead to more frequent hurricanes and more severe rains, increasing erosion of already poor soil and flooding in population areas often situated in alluvial plains, damaging crops as well as infrastructure. Only 3% of the original forest remains, due largely to the production of charcoal by rural people for sale in town, so water runs down the inland mountains without being absorbed into the soil. This siltation, together with changes in sea temperature, currents, and migratory patterns can adversely impact fish stocks as food source. Droughts could be more severe, exacerbating chronic food stress for the increasing population. All this will happen in the context of a corrupt, dysfunctional government, political instability, fragile and inadequate infrastructure, and a generally illiterate population given to magical thinking. It could hardly be worse. http://blogs.ei.columbia.edu/2012/02/01/climate-change-in-haiti/