Recently, someone in a travel group was adamant that it does not rain in January, in La Fortuna.

But it does. And it can be more than a “sprinkle”.

First, it’s a tropical location, so rain can happen at any time. But more importantly, because of its location, La Fortuna tends to get weather patterns from the Caribbean side.

Note: it is NOT on the Caribbean but almost all rain starts in the ocean and therefore, the rain that soaks the town of La Fortuna is coming from the ocean, normally on the Caribbean side.

Rain also falls, often heavily, around the Lake Arenal region in january and even February. And that rain can be COLD and foggy and dreary.

The Caribbean side often has rain in January. Actually, when the Pacific side is getting hammered with rain in September and October, the Caribbean side is often having a mini summer.

Another place that can get rain in January? The Southern Pacific zone, from around the region of Quepos and further south. While the Nortwest Coast in Guanacaste often is blue skies and sunshine starting around November through April, other parts of the country have extended rainy seasons, starting at the end of March and sometimes rain is still falling until January.

There are a lot of microclimates here and that is why I try not to make blanket, all or none, always or never, statements. We don’t know what we don’t know… until we know it.