Blog Post #3: Climate

Since Limon, Costa Rica sits just under 10 degrees north latitude, it is not hard to believe that its main climate on the Koppen-Geiger scale would be considered equatorial. Like most areas along the equator, Limon is considered monsoonal or fully humid because of its precipitation amounts.

Koppen-Geiger Map. The red splotches along the equator are the Equatorial monsoonal or Equatorial fully humid zones. We can see these zones are common along the equator throughout the world, usually surrounded by a steppe. These wet zones have a wider area of fluctuation in Asia and S. America than Africa due to less continentality. 

Costa Rica's humid climate makes it perfect for growing rain forests.

Found here: http://www.anywherecostarica.com/destinations/habitat/rain-forest

The Costa Rican forests are home to hundreds of different types of plants, trees and flowers, not to mention insects, lizards and mammals. Oh, and cute little frogs!

Found here: http://us.123rf.com/400wm/400/400/hotshotsworldwide/hotshotsworldwide0909/hotshotsworldwide090900006/5547144-endangered-costa-rican-reticulated-glass-frog-sitting-on-green-banana-leaf-6.jpg

 These forests stay about 90% humid and most people find it rather stagnant. However, they are also perfect for growing many exports such as coffee, which was introduced to the soil there by European traders in the late 18th century. Bananas are Costa Rica's other main crop. These were introduced to Costa Rica in the late 1800s and helped drive its railroad expansion as plantations spread across the country. 

Found here: http://www.buildingmoxie.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/Costa-Rican-truck-loaded-with-green-bananas-by-Saxon-Henry.jpg

The weather station I am monitoring is actually on the east coast of Coasta Rica near a beach, similar to the one below. Here, the weather is much less humid, however Limon sees plenty of rain along these beaches, pretty much daily as the oceans heat up and evaporate and the rising air drops moisture along the beach. 

Looks like a nice place to visit! Found here: http://www.costaricafishingtour.net/atlantic-zones-beaches.html

The climate in Limon stays fairly steady from year to year. Going back and checking different months from 1997 to present, the temperature and rainfall amounts stayed steady. Sometimes the same amounts of rainfall were recorded on the same day from year to year!

There were a few exceptions to this when hurricanes or tropical depressions formed in the Gulf of Mexico, such as Hurricane Tomas in October of 2010 that dumped excessive rainfall. For the most part, however, Costa Rica stays out of the way of hurricanes.

Map showing how infrequently Costa Rica feels the major effects of hurricanes. The last major hurricane to hit the area was Hurricanes Caesar (1996) and Mitch (1998). Caesar actually crossed over Central America and caused massive amounts of damage.  Found here: http://www.costa-rican-real-estate.com/2010/10/costa-rica-a-hurricane-free-zone/