🇻🇪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 (averaging 27–28°C year-round with 400–1,000 mm rainfall concentrated May–November) through temperate mountain valleys (15–20°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: May–October monsoon rains (1,200–1,800 mm) transform the region into vast floodplains, while November–April aridity desiccates soils and triggers widespread fires.

The Guayana Highlands in the southeast receive 2,000–4,000 mm annually, 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 (70% of national electricity) 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 averaging 21°C year-round with approximately 900 mm rainfall concentrated in the May–November wet season, while coastal La Guaira 15 km north at sea level swelters at 28°C.

Venezuela has experienced multiple significant climate events in recent decades. The December 1999 Vargas event produced torrential rainfall (200–900 mm in 48 hours) that triggered debris flows affecting an estimated 10,000–30,000 people and displacing 150,000 along Vargas state's Caribbean coast.

The Humboldt Glacier in Mérida state, which retreated from 450 hectares (1910) to fewer than 10 hectares (2010), disappeared completely by 2024, making Venezuela the first Andean nation to lose all glaciers. The 2015–2016 El Niño drought reduced the Guri Dam reservoir to historic lows, causing nationwide electricity rationing, industrial shutdowns, water restrictions, agricultural losses exceeding $1 billion, and forest fires burning over 50,000 hectares. In August 2022, intense rainfall triggered a landslide in Las Tejerías that killed at least 54 people. Increasing Atlantic sea-surface temperatures have intensified Caribbean hurricane impacts on northern coastal regions.

Our archive covers 1 Venezuelan cities with daily ERA5 reanalysis data going back to 1940. The warmest July averages occur in Caracas, around 28.2°C, while Caracas records the coldest January nights near 18.7°C. Comparing the last decade against the 1940–1970 baseline, mean temperatures across these cities have risen by about 1.7°C.