CLIMATE. 
While Cuba lies within the tropics, the climate is much modified 
by its insular conditions. There is a high mean temperature with 
slight range of extremes during the year. The annual mean tem¬ 
perature of Havana is 77 0 , while the range between the mean of 82° 
for the hottest month, August, and the mean of 71° for the coldest 
month, January, is only n°. The highest recorded maximum tem¬ 
perature of 100.6 0 is not higher than that of Northern cities of the 
United States. The heat is tempered by the trade winds, which blow 
from the northeast with but little variation throughout the year; the 
uncomfortable part of the day is the early morning hours before the 
breeze has sprung up. Nights are cool, both in winter and in summer. 
The year is divided into a wet and dry season, though the wet sea¬ 
son, comprising the months of May to October, inclusive, is not at all 
what Northern fancy has pictured it; for even in the rainy months the 
weather is usually clear until about 10 o’clock in the morning, between 
which hour and night there are frequent showers, while the nights 
are commonly clear. The winter climate is mild and delicious; the 
sky is clear, the atmosphere wonderfully transparent, and all nature is 
arrayed in an intensity and brilliancy of coloring, which never fails to 
arouse curiosity and delight when looked upon by eyes accustomed to 
the quieter hues of Northern landscapes. The nights are clear and 
balmy. These records are given by Ramon de la Sagua: 
Meteorological Conditions of Habana. 
Temperature. Humidity. 
Rainy 
Rainfall, 
Cloudy 
Clear 
Degrees F. 
Per Cent. 
Days. 
Inches. 
Days. 
Days. 
January. 
82 
8 
2.5 
5 
26 
February. 
84 
7 
2.1 
8 
20 
March. 
. 74 
82.8 
6 
2.4 
7 
24 
April. 
82.4 
4 
1.2 
5 
25 
May. 
85.4 
8 
3.6 
8 
23 
June. 
. 81 
85. 
10 
5.1 
6 
24 
July. 
. 82 
87.6 
12 
5.6 
6 
25 
August. 
. 82 
88.2 
12 
4.8 
6 
25 
September. 
. -80 
88.2 
14 
6. 
...7 
23 
October... 
. 79 
85.2 
9 
3.2 
7 
24. 
November. 
. 75 
86.2 
8 
3.3 
8 
22 
December.... 
. 73 
84.8 
6 
1.2 
7 
24 
Means or totals... 
. 77 
85.15 
104 
41.0 
80 
285 
