🇻🇪Venezuela

Venezuela (916,445 km²) spans 1°–12°N, 60°–73°W across extraordinary topographic and climatic diversity, from the Caribbean coastline through the Andean cordillera to the Amazon rainforest, Llanos grasslands, and ancient Guayana Shield tepui plateaus.

The tropical climate (Köppen Af, Am, Aw) is governed primarily by altitude rather than latitude, creating thermal stratification from sweltering coastal lowlands (daytime highs of about 30–35°C and nights of 22–26°C year-round, with 400–1,000 mm rainfall concentrated May–November) through temperate mountain valleys (highs of about 25–27°C and nights of 15–17°C) to the cool Andean peaks of Mérida state reaching 4,978 m at Pico Bolívar.

The Llanos (vast interior grassland plains draining into the Orinoco basin) exhibit pronounced wet-dry seasonality: rainy-season downpours (roughly April–November) transform the region into vast floodplains, while the December–March dry season desiccates soils and triggers widespread fires.

The Guayana Highlands in the southeast receive heavy rainfall, sustaining dense rainforest on ancient Precambrian rock formations and feeding spectacular waterfalls including Angel Falls (979 m, world's tallest uninterrupted drop). Lake Maracaibo basin experiences intense convective storms, ranking among Earth's highest lightning-strike densities.

Venezuela's dependence on the Guri Dam hydroelectric facility renders the nation severely vulnerable to drought-driven reservoir depletion, while accelerating glacier loss, intensifying rainfall extremes, and shifting ENSO teleconnections threaten water security, agriculture, and infrastructure across this climatically diverse nation.

Caracas (capital, 10.5°N, elevation 900 m in the Cordillera de la Costa) enjoys a temperate tropical highland climate with daytime highs of 27–29°C and nights of 17–21°C year-round and approximately 900 mm rainfall concentrated in the May–November wet season, while coastal La Guaira just to the north at sea level swelters under highs of about 30–33°C.

Venezuela has experienced multiple significant climate events in recent decades. The December 1999 Vargas event produced torrential rainfall (about 900 mm over three days) that triggered debris flows killing an estimated 10,000–30,000 people and forcing more than 100,000 to evacuate along Vargas state's Caribbean coast.

The Humboldt Glacier in Mérida state, which had shrunk to about 10 hectares by 2019, was downgraded to an ice field in May 2024, leaving Venezuela with no remaining glaciers. The 2015–2016 drought reduced the Guri Dam reservoir to very low levels, causing nationwide electricity rationing and shutdowns of public services and businesses. In October 2022, intense rainfall triggered a landslide in Las Tejerías that killed at least 54 people. Caribbean hurricanes occasionally affect northern coastal regions, as Hurricane Beryl did in 2024.

Our archive covers 64 Venezuelan cities with daily ERA5 reanalysis data going back to 1940. The hottest July afternoons are in Carora, with average highs around 35.1°C, while Los Teques has the coldest January nights, with average lows near 15°C. Comparing the last decade against the 1940–1970 baseline, mean temperatures across these cities have risen by about 1.4°C.