Weather in San José in February

Prime time. If you get to pick your dates, February is the one. Highs average 26 °C, lows 16.3 °C, and rain falls on 7 days — nothing in the month is working against you.

February is the highest-scoring month of the twelve. The nearest rival is March, and the month at the other end of the year is November.

Rain on 7 days, 0 of them heavy. Enough to need a plan B, not enough to need a plan around it. Nothing specialised needed — this is the month you pack for the trip rather than for the weather.

What the averages hide

Averages flatten a month, and this one hides a few things: it never really gets hot: not one day in an average February reaches 30 °C. Across the twenty years measured, the hottest February day reached 30.3 °C and the coldest night fell to 12.7 °C.

February is moderately variable: 1 mm in the driest year against 51 mm in the wettest, around an average of 22 mm. Roughly two Februarys in three land near that average, and the third does something else entirely.

Wind is light at 2.7 km/h, so the temperature on the page is close to the temperature on your skin, and humidity is unremarkable at 71%.

How February sits in the year

The month is on the way up: 1.6 °C warmer than January, and March adds another 1.9 °C. Late in the month feels noticeably different from the start of it, which is worth knowing if the trip is short.

Daylight in February

San José sits close enough to the equator that daylight barely moves all year — 11.8 hours in February, against a range of just 1.2 hours across the whole calendar. Sunrise and sunset land at roughly the same time whenever you come.

An inland climate

Despite being inland, the year stays fairly even: 12 °C between the year's warmest afternoons and coldest nights. At 1133 m the air is thin enough to matter — sun that burns faster than the temperature suggests, and nights that cool off quickly.

How busy it gets

Peak season. Expect the highest prices of the year and to be booking well ahead. If the dates are flexible, December is the trade worth considering — 13 points weaker on weather, and materially quieter.

Crowd levels are estimated from climate desirability and school-holiday calendars, not from visitor numbers.

February in San José versus nearby

If San José is one option among several, the nearby comparison is worth making. San Isidro is the weaker option in February — within a degree on temperature, 5 days more rain. Puntarenas is the weaker option in February — 8.1 °C warmer, 5 days less rain.

So: February is the answer for San José. If it is booked out or priced out, March is the next best thing at 4 points behind, and November is the month to keep off the shortlist.

Every month in San José

See all twelve months in San José, or where else to go in February.