San José Airport Operations Disrupted Third Night in a Row Due to Weather
Stan, unlike it's predecessors, didn't pound Costa Rica with heavy rain and flooding, but rather grounded plane, disrupting operations at the Juan Santamaría International airport in San José for the third night in a row.

Wednesday night the fog and mist was so thick that airport operations were suspended just before 7pm, grounding all flights taking off and diverting incoming flights from Liberia (Guanacaste) to Panama.

Thursday morning the airport was a chaotic as flights from the previous night were now able to come in, some hours later than scheduled since the fog didn't lift until late morning. Thursday night, the scene was similar to Wednesday, though the airport wasn't closed, some flights were diverted.

Last night (Friday), however, passengers weren't so lucky as the previous night when airport operations had to be suspended again. This morning, the Alterra website is nothing many morning flights as delayed as San José wakes up to grey cloudy skies, with dense fog in some areas.

And worse yet, the Instituto Meteorológico Nacional (IMN) - the weatherman - says the fog and low clouds will continue for the next several days.

The weather isn't affecting only commercial passenger schedules, but also cargo flights that routinely come and go from Juan Santamaría. UPS and DHL are two major operators of daily cargo flights to and from Costa Rica, who had their planes grounded by the weather conditions.

The U.S. soccer team, which plays in Costa Rica tonight, charter flight had to be diverted to Panama City Thursday night, where the Americans found hotels full for the Latin American Poultry Congress.

On the roads of San José, the situation was extremely dangerous last night as fog and light mist and rain reduced visibility, especially in the higher elevations. Juan Manuel Delgado, director de Tránsito (traffic police) informed that there were numerous accidents related to the weather conditions last night.

Alterra, the operators of the Juan Santamaría airport, say that there are instruments that allow to land airplanes in heavy fog, but due to Costa Rica's topography, the instruments cannot be installed.

By 9pm, just as quickly the fog rolled in a couple of hours earlier, it quickly went, improving conditions in the San José area. However, it was already too late for the hundreds of passengers that had had they flights diverted. The majority of evening flights from the United States come in between 7pm and 9pm.

Experienced travellers to Costa Rica know well what October weather can do to night flights. If you are planning on travelling to and from Costa Rica during the next several weeks, daytime arrivals and departures are recommended.