Monthly Weather Report for San Ramón, Atenas, Nuevo Arenal, Quepos, Near San Isidro de General, & San Rafael de Heredia – February 2015

You’ll notice that we now show rainfall and temperatures for six towns in Costa Rica. This isn’t weather forecasting. We report after the fact to give you a much better picture of the weather in each of these areas.

You can click on the map to the right to enlarge it and check out the average rainfall for the towns in which you are interested. Remember that the areas shaded in darker blue tend to be higher in elevation and also the places most expats choose to live.

Paul’s San Ramón Observations, Facts, & Tidbits for February:

• Starting late this year, in January, the “Christmas winds” were often gale force (over 50 mph), stopping around March 8th, though it’s still breezy.
• We had one day with a high of only 64°F —that’s the coldest high since we moved to Costa Rica 6 years ago.
• When you live in a mountain climate at 3,000 ft. you may need a light sweater or wrap, socks and long pants. We’ve come to love our mountain climate; it’s refreshing, with no heat or air conditioning needed. Our temps range from 60 °F to 80 °F, 12 months a year.
• We will be heading to Mexico in June to present at the International Living Conference in Cancun. 
• Total rainfall in 2014 total was 120 inches and 2013’s rainfall was 111 inches in our area of San Ramón.

Lance T’s Atenas Observations, Facts, & Tidbits for February:

• Generally, February in Vista Atenas was characterized by relatively cool morning temperatures in the 60’s and warm dry afternoons with high temperatures in the 80’s. Also, quite windy. The coolest part of every day seemed to occur within the first hour or so after sunrise. (As the sun comes up, the atmosphere “sweats” and the air cools down).
• The hottest daytime high air temperature was 88 °F, but it was accompanied by a dry 22% humidity – resulting in a “feels like” or heat index temperature of only 84.7 °F. In fact, February was so dry that the “feels like” temperature was less than the air temperature high on 22 days out of the month.
• But, unlike February last year, it actually rained on one day – only about 0.07 inches, but measurable nevertheless.
• Total rainfall in 2014 was 73.59 inches and 2013’s rainfall was 63.84 inches in our area of Atenas.

John’s Nuevo Arenal Observations, Facts, & Tidbits for February:

• Saturday, February 28th was the beginning of the Annual Mountain Bike Race/Tour around Lake Arenal. It began in Tilaran Saturday morning, with an overnight stop in La Fortuna and resumed Sunday morning, finishing in Tilaran.  There were several thousand participants.  The Lake area was full of enthusiastic hotel guests this weekend and a fun place to be.
• We had a record-breaking 185 inches of rain  for the year 2014. Total rainfall in 2013 was 164.75 inches in our area of Nuevo Arenal.

Lance M’s Central Pacific Observations, Facts, & Tidbits for February:

• Well, another month has gone by and we are getting closer to the beginning of the rainy season.
• We have been fostering a puppy that was found in the Palm grove just outside our home. She has decided to make a puppy door in our screen door and now runs in and out at will unless we close the big wooden door. We have bought new screen and and a heavy gauge mesh to install on the screen door to prevent this from happening again. Our landlord thought it was a great idea since this is not the first time this has happened. Luckily the little foster puppy has a new home and she will be leaving on Wednesday after her stitches are removed from her stomach were she had been neutered. Paws, the organization we volunteer for, pays to have any animal spayed or neutered and the first two sets of vaccinations. The adoption fee is 5,000 colonies, roughly 10 US dollars.
• We had three days in a row with rain at the beginning of the February with a total of 8.3 inches. Our landlord who has lived here over 40 years told us he can’t remember getting that much rain in February.
• Have at great March from always warm southern zone Costa Rica.
• 2014 rainfall for the Quepos area of the Central Pacific was 73.54 inches (as of February 2014 when I started measuring it for this newsletter).

Gordon’s Quebradas (San Isidro de General) Observations, Facts, & Tidbits for February:

• The coolest morning in February was also the warmest day!
• We had 6 consecutive days of rain, although one was not enough to register in the gauge.
• The gentle breezes make each day very tolerable at this altitude! I have been surprised that on the odd night we have had to add a blanket to the bed.
• The influx of summer birds has been great to see at our feeder, and the increase
  in Tucan sightings is only a plus!
• The exhibition/rodeo was in San Isidro de El General for 10 days, and we went 2 evenings. Once to see the dancing horses, and then again the next night to the bull fights! Having never been to a bull fight we really enjoyed the evening, complete with some great roping and bull riding. I have to say that life in Costa Rica is pretty darn good!

Steve’s San Rafael de Heredia Observations, Facts, & Tidbits for February:

• Total rainfall to date is 14 inches. Last year it was 2.7 inches. The main difference between dry season and rainy season this year is the direction from which the rain comes: rainy season – rain comes from the west; dry season – rain comes from the east.

• Living here we have learned not to take seemingly little things, like water and light, for granted. Last March the river that provides our water went dry and the water company had to send as many as eight trucks a day to fill their collection/storage tanks. Even then we got just a trickle of water at night and nothing during the day. This year the river is full. For future dry years we now collect rainwater from our roof and store it in tanks. We got mosquitoes breeding in the tanks at first, but have since learned how to prevent this. Our plan is to never be without water again.
• Our front door and carport are on the east side of our house. This is also the windward side during the dry season. Gusts can reach nearly 50 mph (although this year nothing more than 30 mph). We’ve dubbed it the Alaska side of the house (the west side is our Florida side). When we’d get out of the car and make a dash for the door, if we fumbled at all with the key we could get totally soaked from the horizontal rain and our teeth would be chattering by the time we got through the door. So [sound of trumpets blaring], after five years we have enclosed the carport into a garage. You might ask why it took us so long to remedy the situation, and the answer is because there were so many other bad design or poor workmanship features about our house that we had to fix other problems before we got to this one. As the saying goes: better late than never.
• Another thing occurred to me about the difference between living in Costa Rica when I arrived in 1968 and now: no guidebooks. The closest thing to a guidebook was a Pan American World Airways brochure that was eight pages long (as I recall). Poking around the country back then was full of surprises and you missed so many things because you didn’t know they even existed. I found out about Manuel Antonio Beach only because the LACSA plane I was on flew over it and when we landed in Palmar Sur I asked the pilot what the name of the beach was.

Related Articles:

• Our Weather in San Ramón & Atenas Costa Rica – 2014
• Our Weather in San Ramón & Atenas Costa Rica – 2013
• Our Weather in San Ramón de Alajuela, Costa Rica – 2012
• Our Weather in San Ramón de Alajuela, Costa Rica – 2011
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