It’s Official: Rainy Season is on Its Way

INHABITANTS of the Central Valley have had to unpack their umbrellas early this year – about a month and a half early, in fact.

Heavy rains that washed over parts of the Central Valley on Sunday and again on Monday are ushering the dry season out the door.

The country is now in a transition process to the rainy season, according to Luis Fernando Alvarado, of the National Meteorological Institute in San José.

“In some regions, such as the valley where we are, it is very early for the season to start,” Alvarado said.

HE said the rainy season usually starts between May 5 and 10 in the Central Valley, and around May 15 in Guanacaste in the northern Pacific zone, and a month earlier in the Southern Pacific Zone, around April 15.

Not much of a seasonal change occurs in the Caribbean region, Alvarez said, adding, “it just rains all the time.”

The trade winds have lost their momentum, a phenomenon that paves the way for rain clouds over the center of the country, Alvarez explained.

A total of 14 mm of rain fell on San José and Alajuela during the month of March – 10 of those since Sunday.

LIBERIA, in the northwest, and Puntarenas, on the central Pacific coast, have not felt a drop this month, the meteorologist said.

Sun lovers should not despair yet, however. Alvarez stressed that dry sunny days will make additional appearances during the last act of the dry season.

He concluded his report with the easiest part of his job for this time of year – the forecast.

Expect some rain next week, he said, along with some sun.