Dominican Republic
13 cities
Climate overview
The Dominican Republic occupies the eastern two-thirds of Hispaniola between 17°36′ and 19°56′N in the Greater Antilles, sharing the island with Haiti to the west. Rugged topography is dominated by the Cordillera Central rising to Pico Duarte at 3,101 m, the Caribbean's highest peak, along with the Cordillera Septentrional in the north, the Cordillera Oriental, and the Sierra de Bahoruco in the south.
Major climate regimes range from tropical rainforest Af on the wet northeastern Samaná peninsula, tropical monsoon Am along the south coast and in the Cibao Valley, and tropical savanna Aw in drier lowlands such as Barahona, to a subtropical highland Cwb zone in the Cordillera Central and a hot semi-arid BSh southwest, including Pedernales and the area around Lake Enriquillo, the Caribbean's lowest point at 46 m below sea level.
Santo Domingo sees January highs of 30°C and lows of 21°C and August highs of 32°C with about 1,400 to 1,500 mm of rainfall, mostly between May and November. Santiago de los Caballeros in the Cibao Valley is drier with around 1,000 mm annually. Puerto Plata on the Atlantic coast receives its heaviest rain from November to January. Constanza at about 1,200 m enjoys sub-tropical mountain spring weather, with warm days and cool nights, while Pico Duarte at 3,101 m occasionally records frost.
The Dominican Republic lies within the Atlantic hurricane belt and has experienced major hurricane landfalls including Category 5 David (1979), Georges (1998), and Category 1 Fiona (2022), which brought significant flooding. Tropical Storm Olga (2007) produced heavy rainfall, and the Cibao Valley is subject to recurrent flooding. A Caribbean-wide drought around 2015 caused water shortages.
The El Niño–Southern Oscillation (ENSO) drives large inter-annual variability in precipitation patterns and hurricane frequency. Sea-level rise and coral bleaching continue to threaten coastal ecosystems.
Our archive covers 13 Dominican cities with daily ERA5 reanalysis data going back to 1940. The hottest July afternoons are in Santiago de los Caballeros, with average highs around 32.6°C, while San Francisco de Macorís has the coldest January nights, with average lows near 18.4°C. Comparing the last decade against the 1940–1970 baseline, mean temperatures across these cities have risen by about 1.1°C.
How the climate has shifted in the Dominican Republic
Average across 13 cities with full ERA5 coverage: 1940–1970 baseline vs the last decade (2016–2025).
- Annual mean temperature
- 25.2°C→26.3°C
- Days above 30°C per year
- 115 days→193 days+78
- Frost days per year
- 0 days→0 days+0
- Tropical nights (≥20°C) per year
- 316 nights→341 nights+25
Warmest year in the record so far: 2024.
What's unusual right now
From a snapshot of the world's largest cities updated each hour. Today's mean temperature compared with each city's long-term average for the same calendar date (ERA5 climatology, 1940 onward). Last 30 days uses each city's rolling daily-mean vs its monthly average. Not a global ranking.