RICO’s Q — It’s a few minutes past 5 pm and its getting dark lately, when normally the sun sets around 6 pm. To clear up any doubts, the experts at the Instituto Meteorológico Nacional (IMN), the national weather service explain why.
Basically, it comes down to two reasons: an astronomical event, the other the clouds and rain.
IMN meteorologist Rebeca Morera explained: “This is an astronomical event, at some times of the year there are more hours of light and at other times less and we are going through the latter. We must remember that we are in the northern hemisphere and winter is approaching, so there are fewer hours of sun, because from our perspective it is more towards the south, that is why it sets earlier, that will extend approximately until January or February.
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“Another important factor is that these days have been cloudy and rainy, so from early on, with so much cloud cover, we also see that it gets dark, sometimes at 5 in the afternoon or even earlier there is not much sunlight.”
Sunrise and sunset times in Costa Rica
Sunrise and sunset in Costa Rica remains relatively consistent year-round due to its proximity to the equator. As a result, the sun shifts slightly northward during the middle of the year and southward at the beginning of the year, without straying too far from its usual path.
Today’s sunrise (in San José) was 5:27 am and sunset will be at 5:12 pm. The longest days in San José are in May, June, and July, when sunrise is typically shortly after 5:00 am and sunset can be even a minute or two after 6:00 pm. The shortest days are in November and December.
La Hora Tica (Tico Time)
Time can be quite interesting. In Costa Rica, we switch between Mountain Time (MT) and Central Time (CT) throughout the year due to the lack of daylight savings observance.
Newcomers will quickly notice that there is a totally different type of time that the locals operate on, aptly nicknamed ‘Tico Time’ (Hora Tica). This type of time is not dictated by a clock or specific schedule, it is really just running with the flow of life.
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This can be both a great thing and a not-so-great thing. On one hand, Tico Time reflects a a positive aspect of Costa Rican culture and the Pura Vida spirit.
On the other hand, it can be a bit frustrating for a foreigner. This is especially true for those from the United States or Canada, where punctuality is typically valued.
In the Greater Metropolitan Area (GAM) San José and the Central Valley, Tico Time is less prevalent because of business and Western influence, but in the coastal and rural areas, it can be a different story, as people tend to be very laid back.
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