Climate
The climate of Bolivia varies drastically from one ecoregion to the other, from the tropics in the eastern llanos to polar climates in the western Andes. The summers are warm, humid in the east and dry in the west, with rains that often modify temperatures, humidity, winds, atmospheric pressure and evaporation, giving place to very different climates. When the climatological phenomenon known asEl Niño takes place, it provokes great alterations in the weather. Winters are very cold in the west, and it snows around the mountain ranges, while in the western regions, windy days are more usual. The autumn is dry in the non-tropical regions.
- Llanos. A humid tropical climate with an average temperature of 30°C. The wind coming from the Amazon rainforest causes significant rainfall. Starting in May, there is low precipitation because of dry winds, and most days have clear skies. Even so, winds from the south, called surazos, can bring cooler temperatures lasting several days.
- Altiplano. Desert-Polar climates, with strong and cold winds. The average temperature ranges from 15 to 20°C. At night, temperatures descend drastically to slightly above 0°C, while during the day, the weather is dry and solar radiation is high. Ground frosts occur every month, and snow is frequent.
- Valleys and Yungas. Temperate climate. The humid northeastern winds are pushed to the mountains, making this region very humid and rainy. Temperatures are cooler at higher elevations. Snow occurs at altitudes of 2000 meters.
- Chaco. Subtropical Semi-arid climate. Rain and humidity in January and the rest of the year, with warm days and cool nights.
| Bioclimatic landscapes of Bolivia | |||||||
| Tropical rainforest Los Yungas, La Paz |
Cold desert Dalí Desert, Potosí |
Dry broadleaf forest Chaqueño Forest, Santa Cruz |
Template valley Samaipata, Santa Cruz |
||||
| Rainforest Amazon rainforest, Cochabamba |
Humid Altiplano Collao Plateau, La Paz |
Dry Altiplano Isla del Pescado, Potosí |
Andean glacier Glaciar Lake, La Paz |
||||
Read more about this topic: Geography Of Bolivia
Famous quotes containing the word climate:
“The climate of Ohio is perfect, considered as the home of an ideal republican people. Climate has much to do with national character.... A climate which permits labor out-of-doors every month in the year and which requires industry to secure comfort—to provide food, shelter, clothing, fuel, etc.—is the very climate which secures the highest civilization.”
—Rutherford Birchard Hayes (1822–1893)
“Nobody is so constituted as to be able to live everywhere and anywhere; and he who has great duties to perform, which lay claim to all his strength, has, in this respect, a very limited choice. The influence of climate upon the bodily functions ... extends so far, that a blunder in the choice of locality and climate is able not only to alienate a man from his actual duty, but also to withhold it from him altogether, so that he never even comes face to face with it.”
—Friedrich Nietzsche (1844–1900)
“If often he was wrong and at times absurd,
To us he is no more a person
Now but a whole climate of opinion.”
—W.H. (Wystan Hugh)