The dry season is kicking off in the Central Valley, wrapping up an “irregular” rainy season, according to experts at the National Meteorological Institute (IMN).
“We can say the dry season is arriving in the Central Valley and in the North Pacific,” said Juan Diego Naranjo, a meteorologist at IMN. “The central Pacific and south will continue receiving precipitation. For those areas, the dry season begins between Dec. 2 and 15.”
Naranjo said that while Central Valley residents can expect windy days and brisk temperatures in the 15-17 C degree (59-62 F) range, the Northern Zone and Caribbean should brace for several months of heavy rains. Those rains, which Naranjo said would occasionally slip over to moisten the Central Valley, are the result of four to six cold fronts that are expected to affect Costa Rica, mostly in December and January.
“It was an irregular rainy season both in terms of distribution of rains and accumulation,” Naranjo said.
This year’s weirdness started, Naranjo said, in September, which is usually the second-wettest month behind October, but was almost completely dry this year. October brought substantially more rain that expected.