Of course it gets cold in Costa Rica. It just depends on what you call cold. I call 14°C 0r 57°F pretty cold.
Many of us who have moved to Costa Rica come from cold places. Most of us relocated because of the nice weather in Costa Rica, amongst the best in the world.
I have clients from New York, Portland, Kelowna, and even less cold places like Berlin, Amsterdam, and Los Angeles where it still gets to temperatures of around 30ºF or zero Celsius.
I even have one client who works in Kazakhstan and comes home to Atenas once in a while to get warm. He must be freezing his butt off right now. Most of us moved to Costa Rica to never be cold again and enjoy nice weather.
Ski hat and woolen gloves
Guess what? Your blood gets thinner after a while. Also, the weather worldwide is changing. But fortunately, we still haven’t seen snowfall in Costa Rica. A couple of days ago, it was 65ºF in my office. I was still working wearing a t-shirt, shorts, and flip-flops. My wife says I am crazy because she is really cold. But she is Costa Rican and has different skin.
We had breakfast together last Wednesday and she was wearing a ski hat and woolen gloves. I had a big laugh out of it and she got pissed off at me. She said it is fashionable to use gloves in Costa Rica, all serious. We are in Costa Rica for God’s sake.
Snow and rain
For now, we don’t expect snow in Costa Rica, so leave your ski’s where they are. But, it does get colder than it was ever before, mostly during the months of December and January. Thirty years ago, during most of the rainy season, we would enjoy the morning sun and get a couple of hours’ rain in the afternoon. It rains a lot more now than it did then.
For that same reason, I have written a few blogs about being careful and hire a knowledgeable real estate agent when you buy real estate in Costa Rica. Because your agent will know what to look for in terms of landslides and other hazards, in areas with lots of rainfall.
December winds
December and January for many means snow. For those living in Costa Rica, it means wind. We get a lot of wind, starting in January and ending in February/March. The temperature on the Turrialba and Irazu volcanoes was 30ºF last week. THAT is cold for Costa Rica and the reason that the Ticos think a ski hat and gloves look cool.
Dany and I went on a day trip to Poas on New Year’s Day to buy some strawberries and palmito cheese and it was 22ºF.
Microclimate
To give you an idea on the winds: today in San Jose we have Easter wind at 19 km/h (12 mph) and 37 km/h (23 mph) gusts. So if you plan to move to Costa Rica soon, you know you’ll have to bring a sweater and extra warm socks.
The advantage of living in Costa Rica is that you can choose the climate you want to live in as Costa Rica has all these nice different microclimates. Contact a Central Valley real estate expert now.
