Costa Rica is blessed with some of the most benevolent weather in the world. Our abundant microclimates allow residents of the Central Valley to walk around in shirt sleeves during most days of the year, travel southeast towards the Orosi Valley and Cartago to put a sweater on, and enjoy a perfect day in our beaches along the Pacific coast most of the year.

Over the last decade, the National Meteorological Institute (IMN) has recorded the Costa Rica’s hottest temperatures at the La Ceiba weather station in Nicoya. Between March and April, the highest temperatures on average do not surpass the 36.5 Celsius mark (not even 98 degrees Fahrenheit.) Such temperatures are in stark contrast to those recorded by the satellites of the United States National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and the weather instruments of the World Meteorological Organization (WMO).

The dubious distinction of being the hottest places on Earth does not belong to a particular fixed location. It changes from time to time due to different meteorological conditions and the instruments used. At one point, Death Valley in California yielded a thermometer reading of 56.7 Celsius/134 Fahrenheit. Then the inhospitable El Azizia in Lybia, with a record 58 Celsius/136.4 Fahrenheit, took Death Valley’s scorching glory.

Death Valley and El Azizia are still two of the consistently hottest places on Earth, along with the Lut Desert in Iran, the Queensland region in Australia, and the Flaming Mountains in China.  The Gobi and Sonora Deserts are also blistering hot places, but few meteorologists bother to keep weather stations in places where human interest is negligible.

Think about the places mentioned above the next time you think it’s too hot to go out and enjoy some of our nice beaches.