San José climate

Name: San José
Address: CR

San José is warmest in April, with average highs of 27 °C, and coldest in January, when nights average 17 °C. October is the wettest month (432 mm) and March the driest (61 mm). Figures are 1991–2020 climate normals.

Across a full year San José averages 3,021 mm of rain and 130 days above 25 °C.

Costa Rica · population 335,007 · 1991–2020 normals

Temperature below 0 °C to above 30 °C Rain band height is that month’s share of the wettest month

Warmest month April 27 °C
Coldest month January 17 °C
Driest month March 61 mm
Wettest month October 432 mm
Least cloud February 49 % cloud
Hottest on record September 31 °C
Coldest on record January 12 °C

What to expectSan José through the year

San José changes little through the year. Average daily highs stay between 24 and 27 °C, so no month stands out as a season in the way it would further from the equator.

Counted across a normal year, 130 days a year reach 25 °C, 0 of them reach 30 °C. The warmest reading in the 1991–2020 record is 31 °C, in September.

Rain is strongly seasonal. October averages 432 mm against 61 mm in March — 7.0 times as much. Planning around the dry months matters more here than planning around temperature.

Month by month

Month	Avg high	Rainfall	Cloud
January	24.5 °C	95 mm	53 %
February	25.5 °C	66 mm	49 %
March	26.5 °C	61 mm	54 %
April	26.5 °C	99 mm	69 %
May	24.9 °C	355 mm	89 %
June	24.3 °C	383 mm	92 %
July	24.1 °C	297 mm	90 %
August	24.2 °C	352 mm	90 %
September	24.1 °C	400 mm	90 %
October	23.6 °C	432 mm	91 %
November	23.3 °C	319 mm	84 %
December	23.7 °C	163 mm	63 %

Temperature month by month

Month	Avg high	Avg low	Mean	Record high	Record low	Days above 25 °C
January	24.5 °C	16.6 °C	19.8 °C	28.5 °C	12.0 °C	11
February	25.5 °C	16.7 °C	20.3 °C	29.4 °C	12.3 °C	19
March	26.5 °C	17.2 °C	21.0 °C	29.9 °C	13.6 °C	26
April	26.5 °C	17.8 °C	21.4 °C	30.6 °C	13.9 °C	26
May	24.9 °C	18.3 °C	20.8 °C	29.6 °C	14.0 °C	14
June	24.3 °C	18.3 °C	20.6 °C	27.4 °C	14.5 °C	7
July	24.1 °C	18.0 °C	20.4 °C	29.1 °C	14.8 °C	6
August	24.2 °C	18.0 °C	20.4 °C	27.5 °C	14.3 °C	6
September	24.1 °C	17.8 °C	20.2 °C	30.9 °C	14.0 °C	6
October	23.6 °C	17.7 °C	19.9 °C	26.8 °C	12.9 °C	3
November	23.3 °C	17.6 °C	19.7 °C	26.3 °C	13.1 °C	2
December	23.7 °C	17.1 °C	19.7 °C	27.3 °C	13.2 °C	4

Rain, sun and wind month by month

Month	Rainfall	Wet days	Daylight	Cloud cover	Humidity	Wind
January	95 mm	12	12 h/day	53 %	78 %	13 km/h
February	66 mm	10	12 h/day	49 %	74 %	12 km/h
March	61 mm	12	12 h/day	54 %	73 %	11 km/h
April	99 mm	17	12 h/day	69 %	77 %	9.7 km/h
May	355 mm	28	13 h/day	89 %	89 %	7.7 km/h
June	383 mm	29	13 h/day	92 %	92 %	7.5 km/h
July	297 mm	28	13 h/day	90 %	89 %	9.0 km/h
August	352 mm	28	12 h/day	90 %	90 %	8.2 km/h
September	400 mm	29	12 h/day	90 %	92 %	7.0 km/h
October	432 mm	30	12 h/day	91 %	93 %	7.1 km/h
November	319 mm	26	12 h/day	84 %	90 %	8.9 km/h
December	163 mm	17	12 h/day	63 %	84 %	11 km/h

Where San José ranks

Ranking	Position	Value
The coolest places in North America in July	33rd of 50	24 °C
The coolest places in North America in August	34th of 50	24 °C

Planning a trip? See the best time to visit San José.

QuestionsCommon questions about San José’s climate

When is the best time to visit San José?

That depends on what you want, so the honest answer is a comparison rather than a single month. January, September, October sit closest to 20 °C on average, April is the warmest month and March the driest. The month-by-month table above has the full picture.

How hot does San José get?

In April, the warmest month, daily highs average 27 °C. About 0 days a year pass 30 °C. The highest value in the 1991–2020 record is 31 °C.

How cold does it get in winter?

Nights average 17 °C in January, the coldest month. Freezing nights are not part of a normal year here.

Which month is wettest in San José?

October, averaging 432 mm over 30 days with rain. The driest month is March with 61 mm. The year as a whole averages 3,021 mm.

Are these figures a forecast?

No. They are 1991–2020 climate normals: the average of thirty years, which describes what a month is usually like in San José rather than what any particular week will bring. Individual years can differ substantially from the normal.

Data sources and method

ERA5 / ERA5-Land reanalysis — Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S), ECMWF. Copernicus Licence
Open-Meteo — Open-Meteo.com. CC BY 4.0
NOAA OISST v2.1 — NOAA Physical Sciences Laboratory. Public domain
GeoNames — GeoNames.org. CC BY 4.0

Normal period: 1991–2020
Data point: 9.934°, -84.085° (the coordinates the reanalysis values are taken for)
Dataset version: era5-1991-2020-scores1.1
Last processed: 1 August 2026

Measured values come from ERA5 reanalysis and are reproduced unchanged. Calculated by us: monthly rankings, daylight hours, beach and comfort scores. Full formulas are on the methodology page.

Contains modified Copernicus Climate Change Service information 2026. Neither the European Commission nor ECMWF is responsible for any use that may be made of the Copernicus information or data it contains.