Global and Local Winds in Costa Rica

Costa Rica is located in Central America and lies between 9.9333° N latitude and 84.0833° W longitude. It is located in the northern hemisphere. Of the three atmospheric cells: Polar, Ferrel and Hadley, Costa Rica resides in the Haley cell. Costa Rica is located in the wind belt of the tropical easterlies. The wind direction blows northeasterly. Costa Rica isn't located near any "special" areas such as the doldrums, horse latitudes, or the polar front. It is located above the doldrums at 0 degrees latitude and below the horse latitudes located at 30 degrees latitude. 

http://home.comcast.net/~rhaberlin/pwpptnts.htm

 

http://www.geogonline.org.uk/g3a_ki1.4.htm

 

Costa Rica is located in the Hadley cell. In the Hadley cell, the atmospheric circulation in the tropics produce tropical easterlies and trade winds. Air rises up in the atmosphere near the equator, goes upward/downward to the poles, returns back to the subtropics, and finally flows back toward the equator. Costa Rica is widely considered a tropical country and is near a subtropical high. Costa Rica's climate is divided into two major seasons: rainy and dry. The dry seasons runs from January-May and the rainy season from May-December. Since Costa Rica is located near the equator, the temperatures don't change dramatically from season to season. The average temperature year-round is around 70-81 degrees F.

 

 http://www.seas.harvard.edu/climate/eli/research/equable/hadley.html

 

 http://www.aari.ru/resources/m0001/Meteorology/HTML/PRIMER/FACTORS/winds.htm

 

There are many mountains in Costa Rica. The two largest are the Cerro Chirripo in Limon (3,842 m) and the Cerro Ventisqueros in San Jose (3,812 m). Five winds or breezes that are associated with mountains include: mountain breezes, valley breezes, Katabatic winds, Chinook winds, and Santa Ana winds. Of these 5 types of winds/breezes, Costa Rica can experience mountain breezes and valley breezes. Costa Rica has a beautiful coastline and experiences both land and sea breezes. 

 

http://miceww.com/costa-rica/osa-peninsula-coastline-in-costa-rica/

Typical Weather and Tourism in Costa Rica

Weather on the Winter Solstice

In Costa Rica, the Winter Solstice occurs on June 21st. The average maximum temperature during June is a sultry 84.8 F. The average minimum on the other hand is a cool 69.7 F. During the winter solstice, you will only see rainfall. Costa Rica doesn't have any other types of precipitation.

Weather on the Summer Solstice
The Summer Solstice occurs on December 21st. The maximum temperature during December is 83.3 F and the minimum temperature is a chilly 67.5 F. Surprisingly, the average maximum temperature for the Winter Solstice is actually hotter than the Summer Solstice and it's cooler in the Summer Solstice than the Winter. As for precipitation, you will get rain, but not that much since December is in Costa Rica's dry season (Mid-November-May).

Weather on the Spring Equinox
The Spring Equinox occurs on September 22nd. The average maximum temperature during September is approximately 84.5 F and the average minimum temperature is 68.7 F. You will see rain during September, and quite a lot of it since September is Costa Rica's rainy season (May-November).

Weather on the Autumn Equinox
The Autumn Equinox occurs on March 20th. The average maximum temperature for the month of March is 87.3 F. On the other hand, the average minimum temperature is 67.7 F. As you can see, the average highs and lows for each month doesn't differ much. You also won't see much rain during March since it would be Costa Rica's dry season.

Travel Agent Advice
If you are planning on visiting Costa Rica, I definitely suggest traveling sometime during their dry season (Mid-November-May) because you won't be able to do a lot of outside activities during the wet season. I would suggest visiting Costa Rica in December as you can plan on visiting during Christmas/New Years. If you live somewhere cold in the United States, it would be a perfect time to leave that cold, snowy weather behind and visit Costa Rica during their summer. A couple of fun things you could do while vacationing in Costa Rica would be zip-lining across a rainforest canopy or relaxing in a volcano-heated hot spring.

Some potential weather hazards in Costa Rica include: volcanoes, earthquakes, and hurricanes.

http://www.tropicalbeachgetaways.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/costaRica08.jpg

Costa Rica is a tropical beach paradise getaway for any traveler wanting to get away from their hectic lives.

Temperature Controls in the city of San Jose in Costa Rica

In this post, I will talk about the city capital city of Costa Rica, San Jose and will also go into further detail about the temperature controls in San Jose and what changes if any may occur in the future due to these temperature controls.

As I mentioned earlier, the capital of Costa Rica is San Jose. It has a latitude of 9° 55' 59" N and a longitude of 84° 4' 59" W. San Jose's warmest month is April with an average high of 83.1 F. On the flip side, San Jose's coldest month of the year is January with an average low of 64 F. This information can be found on http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/San_José,_Costa_Rica#Climate.

San Jose's latitude plays a role in the temperature they get from season to season. Due to the fact that San Jose's latitude is 9° 55' 59" N, day length and temperature don't drastically change from season to season. On average, the sun rises around 5 am and sets around 6 pm year-round.

Ocean currents don't necessarily affect the climate of San Jose's climate because they are so close to the equator. The ocean currents transport warm water and precipitation from the equator toward the poles and cold water from the poles back to the equator.

The future temperature of Costa Rica is expected to rise according to the website (http://www.ipcc.ch/ipccreports/tar/wg2/index.php?idp=524.) Their projection for the northwestern Pacific region is expected to have a 25% decrease in precipitation by the year 2100. Since this region already suffers from water problems as a result of El Nino and infrastructure for tourism and irrigation, this combines for a dim outlook. By the year 2100, they project the mean temperature of Costa Rica to rise by at least 3 C. By looking at past readings from 1957-1997, the continental Central Valley areas of Costa Rica show an increase of
0.4 C every 10 years so this projection isn't out of the question.

In conclusion, San Jose isn't the most diverse city when it comes to climate, but much of which is due to their latitude. It's warmest month of the year is April and it's coldest is January. According to projections, Costa Rica's temperature is set to rise by 3 C by the year 2100. Hopefully you enjoyed reading about the temperature controls of San Jose and learned a thing or two!