The weather in Costa Rica
It is important to know what kind of weather to expect when visiting Costa Rica since this information will help you to prepare for your trip and get the maximum out of it.
Wet-and Dry Season
Costa Rica has a tropical climate which means it rains a lot. Any day in the year could have rain so you should always come prepared. However there are drier and wetter months in Costa Rica and in general the year is divided into dry season (from half November to end of April) and wet season from (May to half November.)
Wet season does not mean that it constantly rains…to the contrary; a typical day in the wet season would have a sunny morning with clouds forming around noon and an intensive rainstorm of an hour or two in the late afternoon. This means that with an early start you can still have a very productive day Besides that rain is a trigger for bird activity and activity of other animals in general and especially for frogs !). Birdwatching and finding frogs can becoe very rewarding after a rainshower.
Geographical differences
Let’s look a bit more in detail to the simple division of dry and wet season in Costa Rica. The reality is a bit more complex with subtle differences according to where you are. Roughly Costa Rica can be divided into 4 climatic or eco zones each with its particular weather patterns.
- Dry Northwest: this is the driest area of Costa Rica with a very pronounced wet and dry season and a very severe dry season from November to April with almost no rain at all
- South Pacific lowlands; has a pronounced dry and wet season as in the erst of Costa Rica but is in general much wetter than the Northwest
- Highlands: has a pronounced wet (May – November)– and dry season (December – April) but in general is cooler than the rest of Costa Rica because of the higher altitude
- Caribbean lowlands: has a much less pronounced wet – and dry season with rains more evenly spread throughout the year.
Advantages of traveling in the wet season
- It is green season: hotel rates are lower and it will be less crowded
- Overcast skies create better light conditions for nature photography; blue sunny skies typical for some days in the heart of the dry season (February – March – April) tend to generate less favorable light conditions for nature photography
- Rain is mostly concentrated in intensive short showers in the late afternoon so with an early start you can still have very productive days
- Rain triggers bird activity and especially frog activity. People with specific interest in photographing frogs would benefit from having a rain shower now and then.
In the last couple of years also in Costa Rica weather has become a little bit more crazy and harder to predict with unexpected rain in the dry season and dry spells in the rainy season. So it is becoming harder and harder to make accurate predictions but the presented information is based on climatological data of many years.
Please let us know how we can help you with your Costa Rica birding tour
