Cactus St Croix

Hello Cherri,

You should go look at the St. Croix guide on this site, you can access it on the top navigation of this web site. It should give you a good idea of the landscape difference on the east and west end of St. Croix.

St. John likewise has shorter trees on the Coral Bay, Salt Pond Bay area. St. Thomas' northside which is more forested then the east end - Red Hook area.

Yes the east end of St. Croix is more dry and has more cactus. I believe all islands pretty much have a similar feature. It depends on which side of the island is the leeward side and which is the windward side. I was going to try and explain how the leeward and windward climate differences work - but its been too long since science class.

I did find this on a Create Your Own World web site.

"5 Factors That Influence Precipitation

1. Latitude Belts of low pressure centered at latitudes 0, 60N and S produce generally heavy precipitation. Belts of high pressure centered at latitudes 30 N and S produce dry climates, sometimes even deserts.

2. Nearness to centers of large land masses Locations near the center of a large land mass tend to have dry climates.

3. Nearness to large bodies of water Areas near large bodies of water tend to have higher than average precipitation, especially areas on the leeward side of water.

4. Location relative to large mountain ranges Windward sides of mountains tend to receive higher than average precipitation while leeward sides receive lower than average precipitation .

5. Prevailing wind direction Wind direction determines the windward and leeward sides of both mountain ranges and large bodies of water."

Hope that helps 🙂

--Islander

Hello,
On St. Croix the East end gets approx. 8 inches of rain less than the West end.
Therefore the terrain is going to be different. Also, the winds blow from east to west, and probally blow any seeds of any trees to the west.
The east is like desert climate.
The west , where our property is, is lush with trees, and we even have a running creek in the front yard!!! It is considered rain forest because it is so much more growth than the east.
CR