Soaked power lines and telephone cables sparkle under the light of a street lamp late Wednesday after a heavy rain.



A heavy rainstorm swept through the metro area Wednesday night, and the national weather service said that more rain is expected for today.

The Instituto Meteorológico Nacional predicted the evening rains in a morning bulletin.  However, the rain appears to be more confined to the Central Valley than the weather service expected.

The culprit is a low pressure area that is now off the Pacific coast of northern Central America. The U.S. Nacional Hurricane Center said there was about a 30 percent chance that the low pressure area would strengthen into a tropical cyclone. Another tropical wave is expected to pass through Central America today, and this may interact with the low pressure system, the center said.

The weather institute said that much of the country would have afternoon rains and cloudy skies, but the Pacific coast is expected to have partly sunny conditions.

The storm Wednesday night dumped 2.25 inches of rain on Juan Santamaría airport in just a few hours. The automatic weather station there measured 57.1 millimeters.

There was less rain downtown. The automatic station at the weather institute's headquarters near Hospital Calderón Guardia measured 19.5 millimeters from 7 to 10 p.m. That's .76 of an inch. There also was significant rain in Ciudad Colón. The weather station at the University for Peace measured 39.9 millimeters or 1.57 inches.

Hot line set up for info
about new cell phone towers


New entries into the telecommunications field are putting up towers around the country, but they are having trouble. Although they have received permission for the central government to operate, permits for constructing telecom towers are the responsibility of the municipalities.

The Superintendencia de Telecomunicaciones said Wednesday that it has set up a hot line for municipal officials who seek technical information about towers. That line is 800-88-78835. The Superintendencia expects questions about height, area requirements, radiation and electromagnetic waves, it said. The line is not for the public who might have complaints or questions about the towers.

The two companies, America Movil and Telefonica, have an obligation to service about 28 percent of the country in the first year. Eventually they must service 95 percent of the national territory within five years.