Weather Warning

Afternoon rain and thunderstorms in several regions of the country

August 31, 2024

10:00 am

Diagnosis: On Saturday, unstable and humid conditions will continue due to an active Intertropical Convergence Zone over our country. Since early in the morning, the presence of showers in maritime sectors on both sides has caused some variable rainfall on the Central Pacific coastline and on the Nicoya Peninsula. Accumulations over the last 6 hours are between 5 - 25 mm.

Forecast: During the morning, cloudiness will continue to increase on the Pacific side and the Central Valley, due to the contributions of humidity from the westerly breezes. The latter, together with warm temperatures, will give way in the afternoon to significant cloud developments throughout the central mountainous axis of the country, which will be precursors to showers with thunderstorms. These rains will be present in the center, east and north of the Central Valley, the mountains of the west of the Caribbean, most of the Northern Zone and the North Pacific. More scattered rainfall will occur in the mountains and surrounding low-lying areas of the South Pacific and Central Pacific.

The most significant 12-hour accumulations are expected in the central-northern part of the country, along with localized areas of the Caribbean regions. These would be between 25 - 50 mm with maximums between 70 - 100 mm. For the east of the regions in question, the accumulations would be between 10 - 30 mm with localized maximums of up to 65 mm. The rains would continue into the early hours of the night in the center and east of the country, along the Pacific coasts.

Warning: Today's rains are projected over urban areas, so the saturation of sewers could cause flash flooding. Saturated soils remain in the North Zone, mountains of the South Pacific, Nicoya Peninsula and high areas along with areas surrounding Puntarenas, increasing vulnerability in these areas.

Due to the above, the IMN recommends:

• Caution due to sewer saturation in places prone to this type of flooding.

• Prevention against electrical storms and seek shelter in a safe place in case of strong gusts of wind near storm clouds, due to the possible fall of tree branches, power lines, among others. These gusts can reach 80 km/h in some isolated cases.

• Stay informed through social networks, Twitter: @IMNCR, Facebook: Instituto Meteorológico Nacional CR and the WEB Page: www.imn.ac.cr

Jose Valverde Mora

Meteorologist

DMSA-IMN