Climate Change Chart of Liberia, Costa Rica

Overview of climate changes

Temperature changes

Monthly mean temperature was higher on average across calendar months in the more recent period, with a difference of +1.21 °C compared with the earlier reference period. This is an unweighted average of the calendar-month means, not a day-weighted annual average, and it describes typical monthly mean conditions rather than daytime maximum temperatures. The largest monthly increase was in February, at a difference of +1.78 °C. This identifies the strongest increase among the supplied monthly comparisons; it does not mean that every month warmed by the same amount.

Changes in rainfall

Mean daily rainfall was higher on average across calendar months in the more recent period, with a difference of +1.02 mm/day compared with the earlier reference period. This average summarizes the monthly means without weighting them by the number of days, and the figures describe daily mean amounts rather than monthly rainfall totals. The largest monthly increase occurred in October, with a difference of +3.92 mm/day. By contrast, September had the largest monthly decrease, a difference of -0.66 mm/day. These two monthly changes show that the direction and size of rainfall differences varied by month, rather than matching the overall mean difference in every month.

Changes in sunshine duration

Mean daily sunshine duration showed a small increase averaged across calendar months: a difference of +0.07 hours/day compared with the earlier reference period. The mean is unweighted across calendar-month means, so it should not be read as a day-weighted annual figure or as a change that applied equally in every month. Monthly differences went in both directions: July had the largest increase, with a difference of +0.85 hours/day, while May had the largest decrease, at a difference of -0.42 hours/day. These are differences in mean daily sunshine hours for those months, not measures of total sunshine over a month.