March Weather in San José Costa RicaDaily high temperatures are around 95°F, rarely falling below 90°F or exceeding 98°F. Daily low temperatures are around 76°F, rarely falling below 72°F or exceeding 79°F. For reference, on April 9, the hottest day of the year, temperatures in San José typically range from 77°F to 95°F, while on January 23, the coldest day of the year, they range from 75°F to 92°F. The figure below shows you a compact characterization of the hourly average temperatures for the quarter of the year centered on March. The horizontal axis is the day, the vertical axis is the hour of the day, and the color is the average temperature for that hour and day. Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam (10,741 miles away); Situbondo, Indonesia (11,125 miles); and Limaong, Philippines (10,173 miles) are the far-away foreign places with temperatures most similar to San José (view comparison). CloudsThe month of March in San José experiences increasing cloud cover, with the percentage of time that the sky is overcast or mostly cloudy increasing from 37% to 48%. The clearest day of the month is March 1, with clear, mostly clear, or partly cloudy conditions 63% of the time. For reference, on June 7, the cloudiest day of the year, the chance of overcast or mostly cloudy conditions is 90%, while on January 1, the clearest day of the year, the chance of clear, mostly clear, or partly cloudy skies is 72%. PrecipitationA wet day is one with at least 0.04 inches of liquid or liquid-equivalent precipitation. In San José, the chance of a wet day over the course of March is essentially constant, remaining around 2% throughout. For reference, the year's highest daily chance of a wet day is 41% on September 29, and its lowest chance is 1% on March 8. RainfallTo show variation within the month and not just the monthly total, we show the rainfall accumulated over a sliding 31-day period centered around each day. The average sliding 31-day rainfall during March in San José is essentially constant, remaining about 0.2 inches throughout, and rarely exceeding 0.9 inches. SunOver the course of March in San José, the length of the day is gradually increasing. From the start to the end of the month, the length of the day increases by 18 minutes, implying an average daily increase of 36 seconds, and weekly increase of 4 minutes, 14 seconds. The shortest day of the month is March 1, with 11 hours, 56 minutes of daylight and the longest day is March 31, with 12 hours, 14 minutes of daylight. The latest sunrise of the month in San José is 5:55 AM on March 1 and the earliest sunrise is 17 minutes earlier at 5:37 AM on March 31. The earliest sunset is 5:50 PM on March 1 and the latest sunset is 51 seconds later at 5:51 PM on March 30. Daylight saving time is not observed in San José during 2024. For reference, on June 20, the longest day of the year, the Sun rises at 5:19 AM and sets 12 hours, 46 minutes later, at 6:05 PM, while on December 21, the shortest day of the year, it rises at 5:54 AM and sets 11 hours, 29 minutes later, at 5:23 PM. The figure below presents a compact representation of the sun's elevation (the angle of the sun above the horizon) and azimuth (its compass bearing) for every hour of every day in the reporting period. The horizontal axis is the day of the year and the vertical axis is the hour of the day. For a given day and hour of that day, the background color indicates the azimuth of the sun at that moment. The black isolines are contours of constant solar elevation. MoonThe figure below presents a compact representation of key lunar data for March 2024. The horizontal axis is the day, the vertical axis is the hour of the day, and the colored areas indicate when the moon is above the horizon. The vertical gray bars (new Moons) and blue bars (full Moons) indicate key Moon phases. The label associated with each bar indicates the date and time that the phase is obtained, and the companion time labels indicate the rise and set times of the Moon for the nearest time interval in which the moon is above the horizon.
HumidityWe base the humidity comfort level on the dew point, as it determines whether perspiration will evaporate from the skin, thereby cooling the body. Lower dew points feel drier and higher dew points feel more humid. Unlike temperature, which typically varies significantly between night and day, dew point tends to change more slowly, so while the temperature may drop at night, a muggy day is typically followed by a muggy night. The chance that a given day will be muggy in San José is rapidly increasing during March, rising from 44% to 60% over the course of the month. For reference, on September 22, the muggiest day of the year, there are muggy conditions 100% of the time, while on February 5, the least muggy day of the year, there are muggy conditions 39% of the time. WindThis section discusses the wide-area hourly average wind vector (speed and direction) at 10 meters above the ground. The wind experienced at any given location is highly dependent on local topography and other factors, and instantaneous wind speed and direction vary more widely than hourly averages. The average hourly wind speed in San José is gradually decreasing during March, decreasing from 8.0 miles per hour to 7.4 miles per hour over the course of the month. For reference, on February 6, the windiest day of the year, the daily average wind speed is 8.2 miles per hour, while on September 30, the calmest day of the year, the daily average wind speed is 3.9 miles per hour. The hourly average wind direction in San José throughout March is predominantly from the east, with a peak proportion of 95% on March 1. Water TemperatureSan José is located near a large body of water (e.g., ocean, sea, or large lake). This section reports on the wide-area average surface temperature of that water. The average surface water temperature in San José is essentially constant during March, remaining within 1°F of 81°F throughout. Growing SeasonDefinitions of the growing season vary throughout the world, but for the purposes of this report, we define it as the longest continuous period of non-freezing temperatures (≥ 32°F) in the year (the calendar year in the Northern Hemisphere, or from July 1 until June 30 in the Southern Hemisphere). Temperatures in San José are sufficiently warm year round that it is not entirely meaningful to discuss the growing season in these terms. We nevertheless include the chart below as an illustration of the distribution of temperatures experienced throughout the year. Growing degree days are a measure of yearly heat accumulation used to predict plant and animal development, and defined as the integral of warmth above a base temperature, discarding any excess above a maximum temperature. In this report, we use a base of 50°F and a cap of 86°F. The average accumulated growing degree days in San José are very rapidly increasing during March, increasing by 945°F, from 1,865°F to 2,810°F, over the course of the month. Solar EnergyThis section discusses the total daily incident shortwave solar energy reaching the surface of the ground over a wide area, taking full account of seasonal variations in the length of the day, the elevation of the Sun above the horizon, and absorption by clouds and other atmospheric constituents. Shortwave radiation includes visible light and ultraviolet radiation. The average daily incident shortwave solar energy in San José is essentially constant during March, remaining within 0.1 kWh of 7.1 kWh throughout. The highest average daily incident shortwave solar energy during March is 7.2 kWh on March 23. TopographyFor the purposes of this report, the geographical coordinates of San José are 10.952 deg latitude, -85.136 deg longitude, and 164 ft elevation. The topography within 2 miles of San José contains only modest variations in elevation, with a maximum elevation change of 177 feet and an average elevation above sea level of 176 feet. Within 10 miles contains only modest variations in elevation (2,159 feet). Within 50 miles contains large variations in elevation (6,581 feet). The area within 2 miles of San José is covered by trees (38%), cropland (29%), grassland (19%), and shrubs (14%), within 10 miles by trees (47%) and cropland (28%), and within 50 miles by water (33%) and trees (31%). Data SourcesThis report illustrates the typical weather in San José, based on a statistical analysis of historical hourly weather reports and model reconstructions from January 1, 1980 to December 31, 2016. Temperature and Dew PointThere is only a single weather station, Juan Santamaría International Airport, in our network suitable to be used as a proxy for the historical temperature and dew point records of San José. At a distance of 147 kilometers from San José, closer than our threshold of 150 kilometers, this station is deemed sufficiently nearby to be relied upon as our primary source for temperature and dew point records. The station records are corrected for the elevation difference between the station and San José according to the International Standard Atmosphere , and by the relative change present in the MERRA-2 satellite-era reanalysis between the two locations. Please note that the station records themselves may additionally have been back-filled using other nearby stations or the MERRA-2 reanalysis. Other DataAll data relating to the Sun's position (e.g., sunrise and sunset) are computed using astronomical formulas from the book, Astronomical Algorithms 2nd Edition , by Jean Meeus. All other weather data, including cloud cover, precipitation, wind speed and direction, and solar flux, come from NASA's MERRA-2 Modern-Era Retrospective Analysis . This reanalysis combines a variety of wide-area measurements in a state-of-the-art global meteorological model to reconstruct the hourly history of weather throughout the world on a 50-kilometer grid. Land Use data comes from the Global Land Cover SHARE database , published by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. Elevation data comes from the Shuttle Radar Topography Mission (SRTM) , published by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Names, locations, and time zones of places and some airports come from the GeoNames Geographical Database . Time zones for airports and weather stations are provided by AskGeo.com . Maps are © OpenStreetMap contributors. DisclaimerThe information on this site is provided as is, without any assurances as to its accuracy or suitability for any purpose. Weather data is prone to errors, outages, and other defects. We assume no responsibility for any decisions made on the basis of the content presented on this site. We draw particular cautious attention to our reliance on the MERRA-2 model-based reconstructions for a number of important data series. While having the tremendous advantages of temporal and spatial completeness, these reconstructions: (1) are based on computer models that may have model-based errors, (2) are coarsely sampled on a 50 km grid and are therefore unable to reconstruct the local variations of many microclimates, and (3) have particular difficulty with the weather in some coastal areas, especially small islands. We further caution that our travel scores are only as good as the data that underpin them, that weather conditions at any given location and time are unpredictable and variable, and that the definition of the scores reflects a particular set of preferences that may not agree with those of any particular reader. Please review our full terms contained on our Terms of Service page. |