Costa Rica's climate

Costa Rica is completely located between 8° and 12° north of the equator, so its climate zones aren't caused by latitudinal variations. The main causes of the diversity are the altitude above sea level and the effect of the mountains on the cloud systems.

The Tilarán range features misty cloud forests, such as that at Monteverde. But farther northwest, the Guanacaste Range is largely responsible for the arid, near-desert conditions in parts of Guanacaste, in the Pacific lowlands, during the dry season.

Due to Costa Rica's proximity to the equator, temperatures don't vary much from month to month. Neither do sunrise and sunset, at approximately 5 am and 6 pm respectively.

A rough rule of thumb is to subtract 3° F for every 1,000-foot gain in elevation.

Of course, the terms "wet season" and "dry season" are relative. "Summer" in the rainforests might mean it only rains for parts of five days a week; "winter" in parts of Guanacaste might mean brief rain a couple of times a week.

The "Atlantic coast" (actually Caribbean sea) also has a unique micro-climate. Tradewinds from the northeast bring in moisture year-round, which condenses into rain when it reaches the eastern slopes of the Cordilleras. For this reason, there is really no "dry" season on the Atlantic slope. A similar thing happens in the Osa Peninsula. Moisture in the tradewinds from the southeast is discharged against the mountains that separate the peninsula from the rest of the country.

In both the Atlantic lowlands and the Osa, annual rainfall ranges from 4,000 to 7,000 mm/year (150-300",) compared to the Meseta Central's 2,500 mm (100") average.

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