It's Always Fair Weather
Costa Rica's location between eight and eleven degrees north of equator suggests that the weather is the same year round. Not so. The country's mountainous landscape provides a cooler climate in regions of higher elevation. At
sea level, travelers will delight in the tropical rainforests and balmy beaches running along both coasts.
Costa Rica's climate is marked by two distinct seasons:
The Wet Season
drizzles along from May to the middle of November, bringing sunny,
summery mornings, splashed by bouts of warm afternoon rain. The wet
season is punctuated by a "little summer" (el veranillo), a short dry
season that occurs in July and August. In September and
October, look for Los Torrenciales, dramatic downpours that drench
the hillsides and fill the rivers to the top. If you plan to drive the
back roads during these months, bring your 4 x4 and a sandwich.
You may be stuck back there for a while.
The Dry Season
begins in the end of November and continues through April. Dry,
warm and sunny days march past in endless procession, tempered in January
and February by winds cooled by the two seas.
The warmest months are March, April and
May, coinciding with the end of the dry season. The coolest
temperatures are found from November through January and are mostly due to
the mild northeasterly trade winds, known as “Alisios”, which flow
through the mountains. As a general rule, there are greater temperature
variations between the days and nights (as much as 14°F to 18°F (8°C to
10°C)) than there are between the seasons. The average temperature
throughout the year in Costa Rica is between 22°C and 27°C (71°F and
81°F).
The cognoscenti – experienced travelers – schedule their visits between
the middle of November and the end of March. Many tourists skedaddle
around Easter time, but drift back in June and July to play on the
beaches in the morning, and sit in the window with a book and a tonic
through the afternoons of warm rain.
Trip Planning Alert: If you choose to visit Costa Rica during the high
season (December - April), schedule everything well in advance. It is also helpful, and often required, to make a deposit (by credit card) for your reservations. Bring along a
faxed confirmation of your reservations as a hedge against unhappy
confusion.
Bargain-conscious travelers prefer to visit Costa Rica in November, or
April and May (right after Easter). Rates will be lower and discounts
available on practically everything.
Weather Summaries by Region
|
