La Niña was partially responsible for flooding in 2017. El Niño was partially responsible for a severe drought from 2015 through 2016. Warm water in the Pacific Ocean influences weather patterns around the world in a phenomenon called El Niño while cool water and the associated weather patterns are refereed to as La Niña. Please remember to add JaviTheFrog@GoVisitCostaRica.com to your email whitelist or add me as an email contact to ensure you get all my emails, don't worry I will never spam you. “We are not anticipating any unusual increase in rainfall due to the effects of El Niño in the Caribbean, although it will cause scattered showers that will alternate with several consecutive dry days. We’ve been watching the ENSO (El Niño/Southern Oscillation) maps and predictions as long as we’ve been trying to guess what the weather will be like when we travel in Costa Rica – in other words 25 years.

From young adventurers to families with kids. While El Niño and La Niña increase the predictability of weather La Nada is mostly about unpredictability. The National Meteorological Institute says the effects of El Niño in coming months likely will continue causing drought in the Northern Pacific region and severe rains in the Caribbean and northern regions. “Some people doubt news reports about floods or droughts that are attributed to El Niño,” Alvarado said. Planned demonstrations throughout the country could block Costa Rican highways and cause other disruptions Wednesday. 3. Sometimes La Nada isn’t even self consistent. “Agricultural export figures likely will decrease.”. La Nada or “the Nothing” is a colloquial term for ENSO – Neutral (El Niño Southern Oscillation -Neutral) when neither an El Niño nor La Niñasea surface temperature or weather pattern dominates. The other negative effect for tourism is that some of the activities that are most popular during rainy season might be a bust during the drought. •The phenomenon of El Niño does not present a homogeneous shock on the climate, that is, there is no drought or … If the shortage of water and food becomes an emergency situation, it will be a strain for Costa Rica to support its tourist population and its residents. Several government and emergency response agencies already are implementing measures following IMN’s forecast of a longer than usual dry season. Where do Costa Rican's Vacation in High Season in Costa Rica? The waterfalls will be smaller and less powerful, the water level in rivers will be lower so rafting might be less thrilling, and in general the lush greenery that is standard in areas like Guanacaste won’t be as prevalent. The effects of El Niño are not permanent, but rather cyclical, and occur every 3-5 years with variations in temperatures reaching up to 3 degrees each time. The Environment Ministry’s National Commission on Forest Fires (CONIFOR) currently is in contact with IMN experts to outline a plan to step up precautionary measures and prepare media campaigns ahead of a possible spike in wildfires. The easiest to understand  and most reliable information we’ve found for long term forecasts is from The International Research Institute for Climate and Society – Earth Institute, Columbia University – El Nino Predictor, Best Places to See Wildlife in Costa Rica, no obligation custom trip plan & price quote, How Caribbean Storms Bring Pacific Flooding to Costa Rica, Costa Rica Dry Season, Temperatures & Sunshine Map.

You might think that since El Niño typically dries it out and La Niña brings more rain that La Nada would mean just average weather. Rainfall levels will begin to decrease starting in August, and are expected to increase again in November and December. Would you like to share anything? ENSO has the biggest impacts in Costa Rica when warming reinforces the dry season patterns January through April and reduces rainfall during the rainy season in June through December.

El Niño has different impacts in different geographical regions. ((Courtesy of MAG and Red Cross)). These agricultural shifts can cause food shortages. El Niño in Costa Rica •There are well-defined effects: the Pacific slope tends to show lower rainfall, while the Atlantic slope shows higher rainfall.