Anguilla sits at 18 degrees north and is flat, dry and windward. It gets around 900 mm of rain a year — less than half what the mountainous islands further south receive — and the trade wind blows almost constantly. The practical effect is that the weather varies far less across the year here than the seasons suggest.
High season: mid-December to mid-April
Daytime temperatures around 28°C, low humidity, steady breeze, and almost no rain. This is also when rates are at their highest and the better restaurants need booking well ahead. Christmas and New Year are the peak within the peak.
Shoulder: May to July
The best value on the island. The weather is still reliable, the sea is warmer, rates drop by a third or more, and everything is open. Anguilla Summer Festival falls at the end of July into early August — the island's carnival, with boat races, parades and music.
Hurricane season: August to October
The formal season runs June to November, but the risk concentrates in these three months. Many hotels and restaurants close for September and October entirely. Anguilla was hit directly by Hurricane Irma in 2017 and rebuilt, and the island takes the season seriously. If you travel then, take insurance that covers weather disruption.
November to mid-December
The season is over, the island reopens, and prices have not yet climbed. A good window if you want quiet.
Events worth planning around
- Moonsplash (March) — the reggae festival at Bankie Banx's Dune Preserve on Rendezvous Bay.
- Anguilla Summer Festival (late July–early August) — carnival and the main boat racing week.
- Anguilla Day (30 May) — commemorates the 1967 revolution, with a round-the-island boat race.
The sea
Water temperature ranges from about 26°C in February to 29°C in September, so swimming is comfortable year-round. What changes is the swell: the north coast, including Shoal Bay East, can pick up ground swell from Atlantic storms between December and February, while the southern bays stay flat. If the north is rough, cross to Rendezvous Bay or Maundays Bay — it takes fifteen minutes.
Sargassum
Like most of the eastern Caribbean, Anguilla receives sargassum seaweed on its Atlantic-facing shores, usually heaviest between May and August. The north and west beaches are largely unaffected, and hotels clear their frontage daily.