What Place has the Most Sunshine and Fewest Mosquitoes (rainy season)?

Hola Language101,

Welcome to Expat.com!

First, I'd say that this is a bad year to choose a location based on weather.  This year has been much cloudier, wetter, etc., etc., than normal.  Most expats, including myself, would advise you to find an area that you think you like, rent for a while and then if you don't like it, find an area better suited to your needs.  Areas that I like, or others might like, very likely will not coincided with what you want out of this experience.  We all have different opinions of what is the "perfect spot."

I live in the San Ramon area.  Normally, we only have two truly wet, heavy downpour months - October/November.  This year, I swear the day someone declared it to be the "rainy season," it began to pour almost every single %$#&(! day!!!  🌨💨☔️  Usually, even if we're going to get a good downpour, it's in the afternoon after a nice morning of bright sunshine.  Not so this year.

So, my advice, stick around and see what happens next year.   

- Expat Dave ☀️🌴
Expat.com Team Member

Very similar to what we are experiencing near Puriscal.  May was more like September norms.

TerrynViv wrote:

Very similar to what we are experiencing near Puriscal.  May was more like September norms.

Yep!  Most years if it's too cloudy or rainy here I can just ride my moto toward the coast to visit the sunshine.  Not so this year.   

Even in dry Guanacaste, it has been very wet...

kohlerias wrote:

Even in dry Guanacaste, it has been very wet...

I was wondering about that.  Good, they really needed it.    💨🌦

Thanks, for your advice.  Do you know anyone who could make good guesses on where the most sun (and fewest mosquitoes) would be in the next 90 days?

There is probably some weather hobbyist who would have an answer to this.

Brent.

Unfortunately, the next 90 days will take you into the real rainy season.

I would 'guess' that in the vicinity of Playas del Coco in the Guanacaste province will, at least  be drier than Turrialba...but it will then be very hot and humid, in the 90's which may add problems for a pregnant woman.

Thinking back on what I wrote and what I didn't, is to expect it to be much more expensive living in Playas Del Coco or Tamarindo area, than the Turrialba area.

A Costa Rican acquaintance of mine wrote this:

"This is a list of reports released by the ministry of health regarding mosquito transmitted deseases, you can use that as a proxy for mosquito concentrations (and also, I think you should focus on less incidence of viruses and not so much in the mosquito itself):

you can find analizas and raw data here: https://www.ministeriodesalud.go.cr/ind … n-de-salud

You can find a summarized doc here: https://www.ministeriodesalud.go.cr/ind … -zika-2016

Looking quickly through the data I think Palmares and San Ramón are interesting places. You can check the weather patterns of those two towns. "

When I was in Palmares for a couple of days, the locals said that Palmares was much sunnier than San Ramon.  I wasn't there long enough to have an opinion, other than I agree that this year is very rainy overall.

Yes, I thought prices in Turrialba were indeed quite low and if I wasn't shopping for a sunnier and drier place I would stay there for sure.  At 3,500 to 4,000 ft. there were few mosquitoes and they were said to not be the denge carrying kind.

In my two days on Coco beach and Flamingo beach, I got a lot of mosquito bites in spite of putting on lots of mosquito spray.

You are correct about Palmares.   Many, many times I've driven from here, San Ramon, to Palmares and the weather will be nicer there.  It's only about 12 km but they do have more sunny days.

- expat Dave

I agree on Palmares too.  It might be a good idea to stay with an hospital not too far.

Good luck, Gini

A friend of mine lived in Turrialba and loved it! But moved due to the threat of gases from the volcano. Also for me it would be way too cool and cloudy there.

Everyone is right about the rainfall this year. My Tico friend says his dad - who's lived here where we live near San Ramon, his whole life - said that he's never seen this much rain early in the year like this. The weather this year has not been good.

I think predicting where to move where it's going to be sunny is difficult to do.
Of course, don't forget, according to our USA leaders, there is no such thing as Global Climate Change. Or if there is, it's just a cycle, not man made... LOL.

So I understand that 2017 is a really rainy year in Costa Rica.  My guess is that the overall rain situation won't change much before December.

However there are some very rainy places that sometimes have a sunny place within them.  For example,

The Costal area of Washington State is one of the cloudiest places in the world.  But there is one town in Washington state (near the coast) that stays sunny, even when most of western Washington is clouded over.

That town is called Sequim (said Skwim) Washington.  Sequim is consistently sunny even when the rest of costal Washington is cloudy.  It's in the rain shadow of some mountains.

http://www.sequim-real-estate-blog.com/ … -rainfall/

Costa Rica has a varied topography with lots of mountains, so I am guessing that there is some Costa Rican equivalent of the "Sequim hole" that has much more sun than the rest of the country even during a rainy year.

Any ideas on where such a place might be or who would know where it is?

Thanks,

Brent

This interactive rainfall map also shows the amount of sun...although this is weather of the past.

Just keep renting and moving around until you find the place that fits the bill.

Cañas, in the interior of Guanacaste is known to be very dry and hot, all year. People go there from the Arenal area when they can't stand any more rain...

...and, keep in mind that the country of Costa Rica is smaller in size than the state of Washington.  We're a small sliver of land squeezed between an ocean and a sea.  This year if we're not getting storms from the east, were getting rains blowing in from the west.  💨🌨

Where I live I look down on the Gulf of Nicoya.  They are definitely getting more sunny days down there than we are in the San Ramon area.  At the same time I would not wish for my worst enemy to live in the area of Puntarenas.  Maybe an area just south of there???

- Expat Dave

ExpatDave wrote:

We're a small sliver of land squeezed between an ocean and a sea.  This year if we're not getting storms from the east, were getting rains blowing in from the west.  💨🌨

Thanks a bunch to Kohlerias and ExpatDave.  I'll Check out Canas, although I'm guessing it will have a lot of mosquitoes due to it's low altitude.

Some places are intrinsically difficult to forcast the weather.  New Zealand is like that since it's also between an ocean and a sea.

Looks like if you want more sun in Costa Rica you have to move to the sunny side which will switch from the Carribean to the Pacific (and maybe some times in the middle.

Any idea what web site has the most accurate forcasts and reporting for Costa Rica?

And they soon tire of the unbearable heat..maybe the place they are looking for is called UTOPIA 😇

pebs wrote:

And they soon tire of the unbearable heat..maybe the place they are looking for is called UTOPIA 😇

Hi Pebs.  Surprisingly there are a lot of places in the tropics that aren't too hot, but there is always something that keeps them cool, either a cold ocean or altitude.  Arica Chile is at sea level and is never too hot, but it's very cloudy at this time of year.  Antigua Guatemala is at altitude and is mostly sunny and never too hot or too cold.

Perhaps one of the world travelers on this site will recommend one that I should check out!

Language101 wrote:

ExpatDave wrote:

We're a small sliver of land squeezed between an ocean and a sea.  This year if we're not getting storms from the east, were getting rains blowing in from the west.  💨🌨

Thanks a bunch to Kohlerias and ExpatDave.  I'll Check out Canas, although I'm guessing it will have a lot of mosquitoes due to it's low altitude.

Some places are intrinsically difficult to forcast the weather.  New Zealand is like that since it's also between an ocean and a sea.

Looks like if you want more sun in Costa Rica you have to move to the sunny side which will switch from the Carribean to the Pacific (and maybe some times in the middle.

Any idea what web site has the most accurate forcasts and reporting for Costa Rica?

Hi, it's been my experience that there are NO accurate forecasts for many areas in Costa Rica because of so many micro climates. Here in San Ramon area for example I've checked weather forecasts from several apps and web sites and NONE of them are really accurate. The best I've found is WeatherUnderground BUT even that it often very wrong. After awhile I have learned to read its wrongness and guess its rightness if you know what I mean, but no I doubt any forecasts are very accurate except for maybe in San Jose... or perhaps some other parts, who knows?

I think it's a good question though:
Has anyone found weather forecasts accurate for Costa Rica areas?