Weather in the Tropics

As I sit here eating a massive pizza filled bread thingy, I thought I'd mention what the weather is like here in Costa Rica.  Right now it's the beginning of the rainy season, which doesn't mean much in the way of temperature, but a lot in the way of rainfall.  Average tempuratures here are mid to high 70's overnight to mid to  high 80's during the day.  It can occasionally get colder but not usually.  It feels a lot hotter than 80's, though,  because of the humidity.  You kinda just feel sweaty all day.

Then the rains come.  Anywhere between 2pm and 5pm, just about every day, it starts to rain.  Hard.  Then it starts to rain even harder.  Then small animals and things not tied down get swept down the streets in a torrent of- okay not that bad.  Usually.  But seriously, it rains hard here.  Think of the worst thunderstorm cloudburst you've ever been in, then stretch that out for an hour straight, at least.  It can be really impressive.  The gutters on the streets just fill with water, and in some cases there are giant holes in the streets that get hidden under the massive rivers that form.  Two of our travellers nearly snapped their ankles stepping off a curb into what they thought was a little stream that ended up hiding a 2 foot wide hole.  And if you don't have an unbrella or a rain jacket, you're soaked instantly.  I know that one from experience.  Not even my awesome hat could keep me dry.

Sun up and sun down are around 6 or 7, pretty much year round, and the people here sort of live by that.  They are usually up before dawn, 5am in my house, and are usually in bed early, again, 8 or 9pm at my house.  When it rains, the locals duck into any one of a dozen ice cream shops (there are three on the block where I'm typing this), and wait it out if they can, or they hurry through or get a cab.  They are all typically prepared for rain, as you would expect because of the regularity of the storms.

The rain and massive sunlight being at this latitude means everything grows here like crazy.  The road cuts here are almost always carpeted in green or covered over from vegetation above.  It makes it really hard to see what the underlying rock is for most of the area, because the few road cuts that are exposed are made up of nothing but red clay.  It's amazing whole hillsides don't wash away with every rainstorm.

The thunder and lightning shows are intense and constant.  Almost every day we get treated to a light show, and the thunder literally shakes the windows on the bus.  A lot of places, like the institute, will shut down all the technology when the lightning gets bad to keep from frying everything.

Happy belated 4th of July!