If you’re traveling in Costa Rica this week, expect the typical green-season pattern: bright, mostly dry mornings, then clouds and thunderstorms rolling in during the afternoon, mainly over the Pacific side and the Central Valley. The forecast calls for a steady, widespread mix of rain through the first week of June, normal for this time of year, with the heaviest amounts falling in the South Pacific.
The week starts off fairly calm but forecasters say stronger winds are moving in from the north today, along with drier air to the south, would keep the rain in check and make afternoon showers more scattered and short-lived. Mornings should stay settled across much of the country, with clouds and a few thunderstorms building later in the day.
That’s the rhythm to plan around all week. The outlook points to cloudy mornings with a chance of early rain along the Caribbean, the Northern Zone and the Pacific coast, and partly cloudy skies in the middle of the country. By afternoon, expect heavier clouds with rain and thunderstorms in the Central and South Pacific, a few isolated showers in the Central Valley and North Pacific, and partly to mostly cloudy nights with the odd shower, especially along the Pacific coast.
A little timing goes a long way this week. Schedule the outdoor highlights — beaches, national parks, canopy tours, volcano viewpoints and surf sessions — for the morning, when skies are clearest, and keep afternoons loose, with rain gear within reach on the Pacific coast and in the Central Valley. The South Pacific, including destinations such as the Osa Peninsula, Drake Bay, Dominical and Uvita, is where the heaviest rain is expected, so travelers headed there should build extra time into their plans for river crossings and unpaved roads.
The Caribbean coast follows its own pattern and is more likely to see clouds and showers early in the day rather than in the afternoon. To give you a feel for the heat and humidity in the lowlands, the forecast for Monday put highs near 85°F (about 29–30°C) in the Caribbean towns of Guápiles and Limón, with overnight lows around 75°F (about 24°C), and a slightly cooler high near 85°F (29°C) with a low around 66°F (19°C) in Ciudad Quesada in the Northern Zone.
The weekend could turn wetter. The outlook notes that the northerly winds will ease over the next few days before picking up again toward Sunday and into early next week, and that a tropical wave — a ripple of stormy weather moving across the Atlantic — is expected to bring more unsettled, rainier conditions, mainly to the Caribbean and the Northern Zone, lasting into the start of the following week. The good news is that the chance of any widespread severe weather this week is low.
There’s also a bigger-picture bright spot for green-season travelers. Forecasters expect 2026 to be drier than usual: the rainy season got off to a roughly two-week-late, uneven start, and there’s a 60% chance the weather pattern known as El Niño — which tends to bring drier, warmer conditions here — will set in from June onward.
That’s expected to mean 10% to 30% less rain than normal from April through November, and temperatures running about 1°F to 3°F (0.5°C to 1.5°C) above average, most noticeably late in the year. In plain terms, you may see somewhat fewer rained-out afternoons than a typical rainy season — though the daily afternoon storms are still very much part of the deal.
For daily updates while you’re on the road, check our Costa Rica Weather Forecast page before you head out each morning.
