Weather plays a major role in Barbados' two major industries: tourism and sugar farming.
Barbados is part of the Lesser Antilles, and the most eastern island of the Caribbean. For tourists worried about hurricanes, it has a remarkable track record.
"We've not had a hurricane since 1955," says Deputy Prime Minister Billie Miller, the Minister of Tourism. "We are off the direct path. ... Sometimes even a near-miss brings a lot of rain to us, but we don't have a lot of the devastation that unfortunately befalls the others."
The island is coral and limestone, which makes for beautiful white sand beaches, a major tourist draw.
It's a crowded piece of rock, with almost 300,000 people living in an area 21 miles long and 14 miles wide. Bridgetown, the capital, is the island's biggest and busiest city.