Climate Change Chart of Alajuela, Costa Rica

Overview of climate changes

Temperature changes

Averaged across calendar months, monthly mean temperature showed a difference of +1.48 °C compared with the earlier reference period; this is an unweighted average of monthly means, not a day-weighted annual average or a measure of daytime highs. The largest monthly increase was in February, with a difference of +2.88 °C. These summary figures describe differences between the reference periods, not a continuous change through time or the result for every month.

Changes in rainfall

Mean daily rainfall averaged across calendar months had a difference of +0.93 mm/day in the more recent period. This is an unweighted average of monthly means, not a day-weighted annual figure or a monthly rainfall total. The monthly pattern was not uniform: August had the largest increase, a difference of +3.78 mm/day, while December had the largest decrease, a difference of -3.15 mm/day. These daily-mean comparisons do not imply that rainfall changed by the same amount on every day or in every month.

Changes in sunshine duration

Mean daily sunshine duration, averaged across calendar months, showed a difference of +0.49 hours/day compared with the earlier reference period. This unweighted average summarizes monthly means rather than a day-weighted annual total. The largest monthly increase was in July, at a difference of +1.29 hours/day; by contrast, April recorded the largest decrease, with a difference of -0.49 hours/day. The period-level mean describes an aggregate and should not be read as a change shared by every month.