Today's weather for Tamarindo, Costa Rica21st Nov 2009 00:00

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Weather Overview for Tamarindo

Tamarindo enjoys a dry tropical climate with very distinct wet and dry seasons. High temperatures and high humidity can be expected year round. The resort sits on Costa Rica’s northwest coast on the Pacific Ocean.

The dry season, from November till April, is hot and dry. The average high temperature slightly increases throughout the season, from 29°C in November to 34°C in April. At night the temperature does drop significantly to the low 20s, but this is still a little too warm for comfort; air-conditioning is a must. Humidity is lower during this season but it can still be quite sticky and will take some getting used to. It can often be overcast at the beginning of the season but the sun tends to come out for longer and longer. This is Costa Rica’s winter and is often called the ‘windy season’ due to the high wind speeds that build up, peaking around February. This can create incredible sailing and windsurfing conditions, but can be dangerous if too strong. This winter (Feb 2009) Central America received an onslaught of 75 mph wind that lasted for six days.

The wet season, from May till October, is slightly cooler and much, much wetter. The storms come on quickly; April only sees rain on about five days, but May receives heavy storms on around fourteen days. The area experiences two peaks in rainfall, one in June, and the other in September and October, with a slightly more moderate period in between. Storms are intense often causing flash flooding, but they are usually brief. The landscape quickly turns a lush green as Costa Rica’s water-starved flora comes to life. Temperatures are slightly more amenable; the average high falls to 32°C in May and down to 29°C in September till the end of the season. This is the best time for more challenging surfing as the ocean swell is at its greatest. However, storms can obviously become quite dangerous, though, being on the Pacific coast, hurricanes are not a possibility.

Tamarindo benefits from its northwest position, making it much drier than resorts on Costa Rica’s east coast on the Caribbean. Puerto Limon, on the east coast, sees around 300 mm of rain every month, levels that Tamarindo only reaches in the peaks of its wet season. East winds moving from the Caribbean to the Pacific care incredibly humid. As Tamarindo is in the west, most of the winds’ moisture is dropped before it reaches the west; this effect is exaggerated greatly by the existence of mountains stretching the length of the country which serve as a natural barrier to the moist winds. Having lost all of their moisture these winds then create strong downdrafts into lowland areas such as Tamarindo, resulting in the windy winter conditions.

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