Some time ago I purchased tickets for a trip to Puerto Rico for the weekend of May 12-13. As the date approaches, I’m upset to find that, according to weather.com, it has been raining there since mid-April, and will continue raining through my trip. A solid month of rain. I know there’s a rainy season in the Caribbean but I always thought it came somewhat later - closer to June.
I’m left trying to figure out if a month of rain in Puerto Rico means what it does here in the NE; namely, that life sucks, and everything is gray and muddy, and that I should cancel the trip. I figure the other option is that a month of rain, and rain during my trip specifically, really just means that I’m going to run into quick 15 minute showers which leave the place otherwise beautiful and enjoyable. I hope someone can shed some light (from above the rain clouds) on the situation so I can decide whether or not to cancel the trip.
-AE
I go to the Virgin Isalnds pretty frequently which are close. The rain doesn’t have to last long even if it rains every day. Similar to when I lived in New Orleans, heavy showers can start and be done within 15 minutes with the sun back in full glory. It is possible for it to rain for long periods on a given day but I wouldn’t assume that is what is going to happen.
I’ll second that. It’s the rainy season here in Panama right now. That doesn’t mean it rains all day. What usually happens is that there is one, maybe two, heavy rainstorms in the afternoon most days that last from 20 minutes to an hour. (Yesterday, however, we had heavy rain for a whole two hours.) The rest of the day is fine, often quite sunny.
At the height of the rainy season in October-November it sometimes rains all day, but that’s fairly rare. During the dry season it may rain once a week.
Forget about “gray days” as you know them up north. The weather is more like a summer day where you have sun in the morning and brief thunderstorms in the afternoon. There is no reason to cancel a trip. Just bring an umbrella or be prepared to duck under cover for a while.
Right now, where I sit in San Juan, by the shore, it has been what is called “partly cloudy” but mostly sunny, all morning. I expect showers in the afternoon, but as of 12:17 the pavement is dry, the temperature is in the upper 80F range, the sun is high. Further inland, the rain is more frequent and longer-lasting due to topographical effects and the prevailing wind direction (it IS much wetter than the Virgin Islands – if you’re at El Conquistador in Fajardo or in the Old San Juan/Condado/Isla Verde area, wind will blow the rain away quickly, just as it does over the smaller islands) Weather patterns in the Caribbean are quite different than those of the temperate-latitude continents. Do be prepared to rise early if you want to maximize sun time.
Here’s a link to the San Juan radar. It shows some small storms and showers, but they move pretty fast, so that gives you an idea of what a stormy forecast really means. When I lived in Florida, the forecast for June through September was “scattered showers and thunderstorms” every day, but it was the same phenomenon - sunny all morning, a shower or thunderstorm by late afternoon and evening, and usually clear in time to watch the sunset. Go enjoy your trip. 
As an occassional visitor to PR, I can tell you that the above posters have given good examples, and that after some rain showers, when the suns comes out it is like a very nice and very free sauna, courtesy of mother nature!
Where are you going? I am in the SE. Today was a great beach day (for those not stuck inside with a million things to do). You will get the occassional shower but nothing I would cancel a trip for. There will be clouds in the sky, it will still be enjoyable (better than NY, for sure)
As others have said, no, it is not rainy and miserable all day. Go enjoy your trip, get out of San Juan. 
Reviving this one, post-facto, to report that this Mother’s Day weekend was one of the** hottest** on record at SJU, weather-wise. Rather than any gray and muddy conditions, the traveler would be working up a serious sweat and slathering on the sunscreen.
That’s tropic weather for you 