QCOSTARICA – Since the Instituto Meteorológico Nacional (IMN) – national weather service – began keeping records, the city of Liberia, Guanacaste, has never since 1937 reported so little rain in the first eight months of any year.
In the first eight months of 2015, the central canton of Guanacaste accumulated only 105 millimetres of rain (1 mm equals to one litre per square metre). Normally it gets 840 mm in the same period, an unprecedented reduction in the country’s history.
IMN meteorologist Daniel Poleo explains that the shortage of up to eight times the normal rainfall is facing the entire North Pacific.
Poleo confirmed that for the month of August to date, Liberia received only 16 millimetres of rain when historically it gets an average of 217; in 1937 it recorded the lowest ever, 14.6mm, earning it the nickname “cuidad blanca” (white city).
The specialist says the situation is largely due to the El Niño phenomenon in Costa Rica, which has not affected the country so harshly since 1997.
