The unofficial rainy season went out with splash Monday as several inches of rain flooded roads and continued to dampen the 2005 Pirates Week festivities.

Cayman Islands National Meteorological Service weather forecaster Avalon Porter said 3.5 inches of rain had fallen between 7am Sunday and 7am Monday and that up to an inch more of rain was expected through the end of Monday.

“This rain is from a combination of factors.” Mr. Porter said. “There’s a tropical wave to our south, a surface trough that is from the remains of (Hurricane) Beta, and a cold front that is lingering in the area.”

October is statistically the rainiest month of the year in the Cayman Islands.

Mr. Porter said 15.7 inches of rain had fallen this October through Monday morning. While that figure represented almost twice the average October rainfall of 8.55 inches, it was far from the record.

“The most we’ve had in October is 22.06 inches in 1998,” Mr. Porter said.

This year’s October rainfall, however, is a stark contrast to the 2.49 inches of rain that fell last October.

Although many consider the rainy season to run from May to October, Mr. Porter pointed out that November can still be quite wet.

“We’ve had Novembers with 22 inches of rain,” he said, adding that November rainfall often exceeds rainfall in May, which is considered one of the rainy season months.

Mr. Porter said the forecast for Grand Cayman this week calls for partly cloudy skies on Tuesday, but another tropical wave is scheduled to move into the area on Wednesday, bringing showers and isolated thunderstorms through Thursday.

It was still too early to tell what the weather would be like this coming weekend, Mr. Porter said.

Pirates Week district Heritage Days are scheduled throughout the week, and the pirates landing and parade, postponed last Saturday, has been rescheduled for this coming Saturday.