San Jose Webcam – Watch Storms Cross Costa Rica’s Capital

The San Jose Webcam looks south across Costa Rica’s capital from a high vantage point in Moravia, on the northern edge of the city. Green metal roofs fill the foreground, a white arched hall sits near the center, and a red-and-white mast stands on the right. Behind them, red and orange rooftops run toward a cluster of taller buildings, and a long mountain ridge closes the horizon. Much of the frame is sky, and that is the reason to watch. A dry-season morning can be almost clear, while a wet-season afternoon can stack clouds above the ridge and send rain across the valley. SkylineWebcams runs this camera, and the link opens the live player on its site.

About San Jose and the View from Moravia

San Jose became the capital of Costa Rica in 1823 and sits in the Central Valley, a high plateau with mountains on both sides. The camera is not downtown. It belongs to Moravia, a narrow canton of 28.82 square kilometers (11.1 square miles) that begins in the capital’s northern suburbs and continues northeast toward the Central Range. Moravia’s mean elevation is 1,297 meters (4,255 feet), and the 2011 census counted 56,919 residents. The canton was created on August 1, 1914, and is named for President Juan Rafael Mora Porras. A canton called Mora already existed, so the new one became Moravia.

Facing south decides what the camera can and cannot show. The ridge along the horizon belongs to the Talamanca Range, the mountains that round the Central Valley on its southern side. The valley’s four main volcanoes, Poas, Barva, Irazu and Turrialba, stand to the north, out of this view. The center of San Jose lies roughly 5 kilometers (3 miles) southwest of San Vicente, Moravia’s main town, so the picture spreads over the built-up northern side of the metropolitan area instead of dropping into its streets.

Thin support wires can cross the left side of the frame, a sign of how the camera is mounted. This is a panorama for reading the weather, the light and the size of the city. Individual cars and people are too small to follow, so it does not work as a traffic camera.

Weather and Climate in San Jose

San Jose has a tropical wet and dry climate, and altitude keeps it mild. Around Moravia, daytime highs typically run from 23°C to 26°C (73°F to 79°F) through the year, with nights close to 16°C (61°F). The dry season lasts from December to April. The weather station at the international airport, which sits lower and runs warmer, averages just 3 rain days and 6 millimeters (0.25 inches) of rain in January, along with about 285 hours of sunshine. March and April are the warmest months, and they are when the sky on camera is most likely to stay blue from morning to evening.

Rain returns in May. Wet-season mornings often start bright, then clouds build and showers tend to arrive in the afternoon or evening, which makes the hours after lunch the best time to watch weather move across the valley. A short drier spell known as the veranillo can show up around July, when the airport’s rainfall drops to 182 millimeters (7.2 inches). September is the peak, with 26 rain days and 355 millimeters (14 inches), and October is close behind at 331 millimeters (13 inches). Rain eases through November and December. At this latitude day length changes by only about an hour across the year, so the sun sets by about 6 p.m. in every season.

Things to Do Near San Jose

Most of the capital’s sights sit in its compact center. The National Theatre opened on October 21, 1897, paid for by a tax on coffee, then the main export, and its interior holds the mural Allegory of Coffee and Bananas, featured on the five colon note. The Pre-Columbian Gold Museum lies underground beneath the Plaza de la Cultura, with 1,586 gold objects in its collection. San Jose Central Market, established in 1880, takes up an entire block on Avenida Central, with more than 200 shops, stalls and small restaurants called sodas. On the west side of the city, La Sabana Metropolitan Park was the site of the country’s first international airport, and the Costa Rican Art Museum now occupies the old terminal building, close to the national stadium.

Beyond Moravia the land climbs northeast toward the Central Range. Braulio Carrillo National Park lies along the Limon Highway, which cuts through the park, with its Zurqui and Quebrada Gonzales sectors and the three crater lakes of the Barva sector. Irazu Volcano rises to 3,432 meters (11,260 feet), making it the highest active volcano in Costa Rica, and on a clear day both the Atlantic and the Pacific can be seen from the top. Its national park covers 2,300 hectares (5,705 acres).

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Frequently Asked Questions

What can you see on the San Jose Webcam?

A wide view south from Moravia over green rooftops, a white arched hall and a red-and-white mast, then a long spread of city, a cluster of taller buildings and the Talamanca Range on the horizon. The sky takes up much of the picture.

Is this webcam in San Jose, California, or San Jose del Cabo?

Neither. This camera shows San Jose, the capital of Costa Rica, from the canton of Moravia in San Jose Province. San Jose in California and San Jose del Cabo in Mexico are different cities.

Does the San Jose Costa Rica webcam show downtown streets?

No. It is a distant panorama, so streets, traffic and pedestrians are not visible in any detail. The center of the city lies roughly 5 kilometers (3 miles) from Moravia’s main town.

Is there a San Jose Costa Rica airport webcam here?

No. Juan Santamaria International Airport is in Alajuela Province, about 20 kilometers (12 miles) northwest of downtown San Jose, and this camera faces south, so the runway is not in view.

Can you see Irazu or Poas volcano on this webcam?

No. Both stand north of the Central Valley, while this camera looks south at the Talamanca Range. SkylineWebcams runs a separate camera for Irazu.

What is the weather like in San Jose, Costa Rica, in October?

October is one of the two wettest months. The airport station averages 331 millimeters (13 inches) of rain over 25 rain days, and highs around Moravia stay close to 24°C (75°F). Mornings are often the driest part of the day.

Does it snow in San Jose, Costa Rica?

No. The lowest temperature in the airport’s climate table is 11.7°C (53°F), recorded in January, so nothing on this camera ever turns white.

Why does the San Jose Webcam open on another website?

SkylineWebcams plays this camera on its own site and does not allow its player on ours, so the link takes you there. Its page also has a time-lapse tab that replays the view.

Source: SkylineWebcams