PERU
Climate and Weather

Cities in PERU

Climate and Landscape

The lowlands lie entirely in the area of the tropical rain climate. Temperatures and rainfall are high everywhere, especially in the northeast. For example, Iquitos has an average temperature of 32 °C and there is almost 3000 mm of rainfall per year. Peru's wettest places are on the eastern slopes.

The rainy season lasts from January to April, and floods and landslides are not uncommon. During the dry season (May-October) it sometimes does not rain for weeks on end.

In the southern rainforests, unexpected cold fronts from the south occur, called "friajes". They cause windy, rainy days with daytime temperatures of 13° -18 °C and night temperatures of up to 10 °C.

Climate table Juliaca, Southern Peru_{Photo: Maksim CC 3.0 Unported no changes made}

The climate in the mountains and on the Altiplano, the plateau, is completely different. Here, depending on the altitude and location, there is a moderate to even an Arctic climate. The temperate regions are sometimes rainy, sometimes dry. The driest time in the mountains is between May and October, but from June to August there are occasional "nevadas", with snowfall on the summits and hail or rain in the valleys. At around 4,700 meters, temperatures vary from 20 °C during the day to -15 °C at night.

In the rainy season (October-April) the eastern slopes still receive a lot of precipitation under the influence of the trade. However, the plateau and the longitudinal valleys are in the rain shadow of the high Cordilleras. Significant temperature differences between day and night occur on the southern high plains and a tundra climate seems to prevail here.

The snow line in the Cordillera Blanca is usually slightly below 5000 meters. In parts of the Andes further south and further inland, it slides up to 6000 meters.

Snowy Cordillera Blanca, Peru_{Photo: Dick Culbert from Gibsons, B.C. Canada CC 2.0 Generic no changes made}

The west coast is dry. The southeast trade wind here blows from south to north parallel to the coast, but under the influence of the cold Peru or Humboldt current and the fierce tropical sun it has a low humidity, so that when rising off the coast only mist and drizzle (garúa or camanchaca) are formed. Due to the cold Peru Current, with water from the Antarctic, the temperatures on the coast are about 5 °C lower than those at the same altitude on the Atlantic coast of South America. Especially the capital Lima has a lot of problems in the months of April-November. August then has temperatures between 13-17 °C, while the temperature normally fluctuates between 20 ° -26 °C. The annual rainfall in Lima is on average 34 mm; often there is no precipitation for years on end.

The dry season is interrupted once every few years by El Niño, a warm current from the equator. Usually this happens in the month of December and in 1998 El Niño caused a lot of damage, especially in Northern Peru. Numerous villages suffered severe flooding and mudslides. In the 1982/1983 El Niño season, Lima received more than 1000 mm of rainfall!

Climate table Lima, Peru_{Photo: Unknown CC 3.0 Unported no changes made}