QCOSTARICA — The national weather service, Instituto Meteorológico Nacional (IMN), forecasts that the transition period to the dry season will begin in Costa Rica in the coming weeks.
After the country went through a historic storm during the first two weeks of November, it is expected that the dry season will finally begin in the last week of this month.
According to experts, from November 25 to December 1, this pattern will occur in most of the:
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- North Pacific (Guanacaste)
- Central Pacific (Jaco and Quepos)
- Central Valley
“This is because the Intertropical Convergence Zone will gradually move away as a result of an increase in trade winds,” said Daniel Poleo, from the IMN Climatology Unit.
Is the rain going away?
Despite the fact that the establishment of the dry season is expected, there will still be some rain.
“It is worth mentioning that the Caribbean slope and part of the Northern Zone, known as the eastern zone, do not present the dry season pattern,” said Karina Hernández, from IMN.
Costa Rica has two seasons: the rainy season, which runs from May to November, and the dry season, which runs from December to April.
According to experts, December is a transition month, so in regions that have a dry season, some rain may still occur.
According to the IMN forecast, the following are expected per week:
December 2 to 8: This week there will be a decrease in rainfall in the South Caribbean; most of the country will have very little rainfall.
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The exception is for the Guatuso area, which will have more rain than normal, as well as the North Pacific.
Accumulations between 20-50 mm per week are expected in the Caribbean and 50-90 mm in the Pacific.
December 9 to 15: For this week, normal rainfall is expected for the dry season period throughout the Pacific and Central Valley.
Even the Caribbean coast and the Northern Zone will have normal rainfall (weekly accumulations between 20-60 mm in the Caribbean and less than 50 mm in the Pacific).
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December 16 to 22: It will continue to be normal throughout the Pacific and Central Valley.
While in the Caribbean and Northern Zone there will be less rain (within a normal scenario), mainly due to low humidity content.
Cold fronts
Regarding cold fronts and cold waves, the IMN meteorologist highlighted that these systems will play an important role in the distribution of rain.
“Once the tropical cyclone season ends, we focus on what will happen with these fronts and cold waves,” Karina Hernández explained.
This is because these systems bring rain to the Northern Zone and the Caribbean slope from November to February.
However, this season is expected to be less active than normal. On average, the country receives around 24 cold waves that enter the Gulf of Mexico.
“This year, we anticipate only 22 and of these, probably, only one will reach Costa Rica as a cold front. Normally, we are affected by two cold fronts, so we expect a reduction in their impact,” concluded Hernández.
According to experts, the peak of cold waves usually occurs at the end of January.
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