Climate
The country has a tropical and subtropical climate and is part of the Neotropic ecozone. It is part of many ecoregions, including Costa Rican seasonal moist forests, Bocas del Toro-San Bastimentos Island-San Blas mangroves, Mosquitia-Nicaraguan Caribbean Coast mangroves, Southern Dry Pacific Coast mangroves, Central American dry forests, and Talamancan montane forests. An inlet from the Pacific the Gulf of Nicoya contains several small islands, the largest of these being Chira Island with a population of around four thousand.
Costa Rica's dry season in most places is from December to April, while the rainy season is from May to November. On the Caribbean coast, however, December is by far the wettest month. The highlands areas are always cooler. The lowest elevation levels in the country are on the western and eastern coasts, at sea level. The highest point is Cerro Chirripó, a volcanic mountain with an elevation of 3,810 m (12,500 ft) (part of Chirripó National Park). On a clear day, it is possible to see both the Caribbean and the Pacific from the peak.
Read more about this topic: Geography Of Costa Rica
Famous quotes containing the word climate:
“The climate of Ohio is perfect, considered as the home of an ideal republican people. Climate has much to do with national character.... A climate which permits labor out-of-doors every month in the year and which requires industry to secure comfort—to provide food, shelter, clothing, fuel, etc.—is the very climate which secures the highest civilization.”
—Rutherford Birchard Hayes (1822–1893)
“Ghosts, we hope, may be always with us—that is, never too far out of the reach of fancy. On the whole, it would seem they adapt themselves well, perhaps better than we do, to changing world conditions—they enlarge their domain, shift their hold on our nerves, and, dispossessed of one habitat, set up house in another. The universal battiness of our century looks like providing them with a propitious climate ...”
—Elizabeth Bowen (1899–1973)
“Is not their climate foggy, raw, and dull,
On whom, as in despite, the sun looks pale,
Killing their fruit with frowns?”
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616)