Costa Rica Guide

travel information and maps

  • Vacation Planning
  • Best Trips Ever>>
  • More Fun Than Humanly Possible
  • Costa Rica
    • Top Ten
    • Best Time to Visit Costa Rica
    • Things To Do in Costa Rica
    • Maps
    • Transportation
      • Rental Cars
        • Advantages of Driving
        • Disadvantages Driving
        • Code of the Road
        • Navigation & Drive Time
        • Rental Insurance Explained
        • Can’t Get There
      • Airports
        • Flights Worth Taking
        • LIR or SJO
        • Airfare Deals
        • Domestic Airlines
        • Domestic Air Tips
      • Taxis
      • Bus Schedule
    • Food
      • Typical Menu
      • Batidos & Refrescos
      • Gallo Pinto
      • Tamales
      • Ceviche
      • Ensalada Palmito
      • Sopa Negra
      • Vinagre Chilera
    • Weather
      • Seasons in Costa Rica
      • Current Storms in Costa Rica
    • Regions
  • Nature & Wildlife
    • National Parks
    • Wildlife Refuges
    • Ecozones
    • Best Places to See Wildlife in Costa Rica
  • Practical Info
    • Health & Safety
      • Health Tips
        • Altitude Sickness
        • Chikungunya
        • Natural Disasters
      • Crime
        • Cons & Rip-offs
        • Corruption
        • Violent Crime
    • Will My Phone Work?
    • Packing List
    • Passports & Docs
    • Money – How To?
    • How Much Does it Cost?
    • Travel Tips
  • Stories
    • Photos
    • Trek Across Costa Rica
    • Sendero de Oro
    • Quebrada Gata
    • Bicycle Touring
    • About Us
  • Move to Costa Rica
  • Free Travel Pack
no obligation custom trip plan & price quote

1-866-816-0197

· Copyright © 2023 ·

Here Comes the Dry Season

Pacific ocean surface temperature increases accentuate the seasonal shift in the inter-tropical convergence zone amplifying the trade winds across the 10th parallel…

…in other words…

The 2018 Rainy Season Might End Early in Costa Rica!

Costa Rica Desert
Cactus and yuccas on a Guanacaste hillside. The northwest of Costa Rica looks more like desert than jungle in the dry season

The rains usually taper off between late November and early January ushering in the Pacific side dry season in Costa Rica.

There’s a lot of rainy season yet to come but in 2018 there’s a chance the rains could end early.  NOAA is predicting a good chance El Niño conditions beginning in October will prevail by December and in Costa Rica El Niño typically means less rainfall.

The arrival of dry season is not like flipping a switch and the rains will taper off.  As always Guanacaste and the northwest will be drier sooner than the central Pacific and mountains.  The Osa and far south Pacific never gets as dry as the north.

The Caribbean side sees more sun in September and October but doesn’t really have a defined dry season.

If you’re trying to make beach plans for the Holidays then farther north and west are always your safest bets.

Papagayo Winds Bring Dry Weather to Guanacaste

Strong winds across Guanacaste, the volcanic range, San José and the Central Valley blow in the dry season weather patterns by Christmas most years.   When the moist air from the Caribbean moves over land it is driven up cooling as it rises and expands.   The moisture is squeezed out as rain on the eastern side of the continental divide leaving hot dry conditions to the west.

Papagayo Winds Across Costa Rica
Clouds stacked up on the eastern side of the continental divide by the prevailing Papagayo winds (trade winds) in Costa Rica. (from National Meteorological Institute)

The winds typically pick up through January and continue into February frequently reaching 100 kph (60 mph).  Even stronger gusts can uproot trees, damage buildings and are responsible for fatalities every year.

Past Years 2017

2017 was already shaping up to be one of the wettest years when in October Tropical Storm Nate destroyed roads and homes and killed and injured people across the Pacific half of the country with record rainfalls. It hasn’t dried out since.

Typical Costa Rica rainfall tropical depression
Typical rainfall pattern when warm moist air from the Pacific is pulled across Costa Rica from west to east by a rotating low pressure system in the Caribbean (a tropical storm or hurricane).

The Caribbean is normally much drier during the Pacific and Mountain zones rainiest months (September into December) and was mostly spared. However, now that the winds have shifted the Caribbean has been getting heavy rains and some flooding in mid to late December 2017.

Past Years 2016

The 2016 rainy season was equally devastating. It started out with heavy rains and severe flooding in the central and southern Pacific and ended with historic hurricane Otto making landfall on the Costa Rica Nicaragua border and crossing from the Caribbean to the Pacific wrecking havoc in the lowlands.

Otto was one of the latest forming hurricanes ever, the first ever hurricane to hit Costa Rica directly, and the first to ever to retain its Atlantic name as a Pacific storm after crossing the continent as a coherent system.

Hurricane Otto Costa Rica Landfall Movie

By mid December all that had passed and the Papagayo winds picked up blowing in the drier air.

 

 

 

 

Ray & Sue

Cost · ToDo · Plan·Costa Rica Guide logo animated·Top10 · Best Time · Contact


toll free Costa Rica travel desk!
1-866-816-0197

CONTACT US

Weather & Climate
  • Current Storms in Costa Rica
  • Costa Rica Live Weather Reports
  • Today’s Weather in Costa Rica
  • Here Comes the Rain Again
  • Riders on the Storm(s)
  • La Nada, La Niña & El Niño in Costa Rica
  • Here Comes the Dry Season
  • How Caribbean Storms Bring Pacific Flooding to Costa Rica
  • Seasons in Costa Rica
  • Costa Rica Weather
  • Costa Rica Rainy Season & Rainfall Map
  • Costa Rica Dry Season, Temperatures & Sunshine Map
  • Reading Weather Charts



Costa Rica Guide on facebook
Costa Rica Guide on Facebook