Weather locations in CLIPPERTON

Clipperton is an uninhabited coral islet in the eastern Pacific, about 900 kilometres west of Mexico and roughly 650 kilometres from the nearest inhabited island. It has no permanent population, no airport and no standing freshwater. The only structures are a small meteorological station and the remains of an early twentieth-century guano-boring settlement and a lighthouse. Its climate is a hot, remarkably dry tropical desert.

Main climate types

The islet is classified as a hot desert climate. Two features explain the dryness: it sits in the path of the dry north-easterly trade winds for much of the year, and the nearby ocean is unusually cold, which limits the moisture the air can carry. Cloud still builds in the warmer part of the summer, when the rainbelt shifts north of the island.

Temperatures

Monthly means are high and change very little across the year, typically around 26 °C to 28 °C. Because the ocean is a huge heat reservoir, daytime highs in the hottest weeks rarely differ greatly from winter nights, and readings below about 18 °C are extremely rare. There is no snow, no frost and no cold season. The largest variation comes from the sea breeze that builds each afternoon.

Rainfall

Rainfall is the defining feature. Averages are very low, of the order of 100 millimetres a year, but the total swings dramatically from year to year, and there are well documented spells of many consecutive years with almost no rain. Most of what falls arrives in a brief late-summer period, as heavy showers that run straight into the lagoon.

When to go

With no landing facilities and protected marine status, the islet is essentially only reachable by private boat or research vessel, and visits are made by scientific and conservation parties rather than members of the public. Sailors crossing the eastern Pacific in the northern summer, roughly July to September, can expect the most cloud; the winter months under the north-east trades are drier, cooler and rougher at sea.