Climate Change Chart of Philipsburg, Sint Maarten (Dutch part)

Overview of climate changes

Temperature changes

Averaged across calendar months, monthly mean temperature shows a difference of +0.65 °C compared with the earlier reference period; this is an unweighted mean of monthly means, not a day-weighted annual average or a measure of daytime maximum temperatures. The largest monthly increase was in September, at +0.95 °C, highlighting one month's change rather than implying that every month warmed by the same amount.

Changes in rainfall

Mean daily rainfall, rather than monthly rainfall totals, had a difference of -0.66 mm/day averaged across calendar months; this is an unweighted mean of monthly means, not a day-weighted annual average. The clearest monthly decrease was in August, with a difference of -1.65 mm/day. By contrast, the largest monthly increase was in February, at +0.19 mm/day. These month-specific differences show that the overall decrease did not apply uniformly through the year.

Changes in sunshine duration

Mean daily sunshine duration had an average difference of +0.02 hours/day across calendar months compared with the earlier reference period; this is an unweighted average of monthly means, not a day-weighted annual figure. The largest monthly increase occurred in September, with a difference of +0.14 hours/day, while the largest decrease was in April, at -0.10 hours/day. These contrasting monthly changes put the small overall average in context: it summarizes the months collectively and does not mean that sunshine increased in every month.