Climate of the Nicoya Peninsula

Catalina's science and geography lessons this week are going to focus on the local landscape. As I've said in earlier posts it is remarkably dry here at this time of year. In fact, the town's water has stopped running twice this week. One time it was off for about 10 hours. Once the local tank fills, they turn the spigot back on. Clearly continuing growth and development is going to put real pressure on local water resources. They're already stretched thin.

I created two graphs based on data I downloaded from the National Meteorological Institute of Costa Rica (Instituto Meteorológico Nacional [IMN]). They make it pretty clear that the main seasonal difference in this part of Costa Rica has to do with rainfall and the disappearance of the intertropical convergence zone (ITCZ) in December and its reappearance in May. January and February each get as much rain as Los Angeles in a year, but January through March receive virtually no rain at all. And, of course, temperature changes little at any  time of year. Every night is in the low 70s and every day peaks in the mid to upper 90s.

Take a look:

Nicoya gets a little bit hotter during the day and a little bit colder during the night because its not right at the coast. Here's a map to help you locate both the town of Nicoya and our current location:


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