Arenal Kayaks Tours on Lake Arenal, Costa Rica

The weather situation here on Lake Arenal is always changing. Located just to the Caribbean side of the geographical continental divide¹, our weather is affected by both that body of water and the Pacific Ocean. At different times of the year one side or the other dominates. The rest of the time we can see the line of clouds on one side or the other of the divide. But that's not the whole story, Costa Rica has numerous "micro-climates". As little as 1km separation can mean very different weather conditions. Especially in rainfall.

Around the lake, rainfall varies considerably as do wind conditions. There's a reason why the sailboarders and kiteboarders use the northwestern side of the lake. The same reason that the windmill farms are located on the ridge above that end of the lake. Wind. Lots of it. But, not as much rain according to local reports. Some prefer that side for it's relative dryness. Others of us say that we'd rather have rain than wind. And speaking of reason, there's a reason this is called a rain forest.

Heading from the lake towards the town of Tilaran typically brings one from rainy conditions into the sunshine. Because of the winds ripping that way however, there is often a horizontal mist blowing through. An interesting weather phenomenon.

So, what's the weather? Around the Nuevo Arenal area, home of Arenal Kayaks, we expect rain every day except between sometime in February and May 15th, what we call the "dry" season. Some time during the day or night we'll have some rainfall here in this area. Pretty rare to go more than 2 or 3 days even in our "dry" season without rain.

Average annual rainfall is reported to be around 4.2m (168"). That's 1.1cm (.46") daily average. During the "dry" season, it's dry enough that some will feel the need to water their tropical gardens to keep them healthy. And laundry hung out on the clothesline actually dries the same day! Other times of the year, like this past week or so, it rains almost constantly and there is no such thing as dry clothes.

The jungle itself remains mostly green during the dry season which is one of the reasons we chose to live in this area. When the rest of the country is dry and brown, not to mention hot, we're still green here and somewhat cooler. I think the average temperature here is 74° and doesn't vary by more than about 5° year round. Need to get some better data on not only temperature but rainfall and lake level so we can provide a more accurate picture of weather conditions for visitors. And one day soon we'll have our Lake Arenal webcam setup to show you current conditions. Until then, just drop us an enote to info at arenalkayaks.com and we'll give you up to date information on local weather. (chance of rain in Nuevo Arenal today, 50% :), current conditions, rain)...

(1) technically, the continental divide is determined by the direction of water runoff. Before the dam was constructed to create the lake we now enjoy, this area was all Caribbean watershed putting the divide to the west of where the lake is now. Normally, one would think that just having a dam wouldn't affect the direction of runoff but in this case it does. Water exits the lake from the opposite end from the dam through a set of underground pipes. These pipes carry the water across the divide (actually under it) to drive the turbines that generate electricity. The water then proceeds down to farms in the Guanacaste plains to be used as irrigation for agriculture ultimately ending up in the Pacific Ocean. So, this means that all of the watershed that feeds Lake Arenal flows to the Pacific moving us from the Caribbean side to the Pacific. The "new" continental divide is now to the east side of the lake!