Climate of Peru

Climate of Peru describes the diverse climates of this large South American country with an area of 1285216 sqkm. Peru is located entirely in the tropics but features desert and mountain climates as well as tropical rainforests. Elevations above sea level in the country range from -37 to 6778 m and precipitation ranges from less than 20 mm annually to more than 8000 mm. There are three main climatic regions: the Pacific Ocean coast is one of the driest deserts in the world but with some unique features; the high Andes mountains have a variety of microclimates depending on elevation and exposure and with temperatures and precipitation from temperate to polar and wet to dry; and the Amazon basin has tropical climates, mostly with abundant precipitation, along with sub-tropical climates in elevations above 1550 m.

Pacific coastal desert
The coastal desert of Peru extends unbroken from near the northern border with Ecuador to the southern border with Chile, a north to south distance of 1600 km. Three names are sometimes applied to the desert in different parts of the coastline. The Sechura Desert is in northern Peru. Southward is the Peruvian coastal desert which becomes at an indefinite location the Atacama Desert which continues into Chile.

The Sechura is warmer and less impacted by the cloud cover that characterizes the more southern parts of the coastal desert, but there is a uniformity in precipitation along the entire coastline with less than 30 mm annually. The desert strip along the Pacific is narrow, at its widest about 120 km before the land climbs into the Andes and precipitation increases with elevation.

The following table summarizes climatic statistics for cities in the north, central, and southern parts of the coastal desert

A characteristic of the Peruvian coastal desert is low average temperatures despite its tropical latitudes. In the tropics the average annual temperature is usually at least 25 C with little temperature variation among months. By contrast most of the Peruvian coastal desert has average annual temperatures of less than 20 C and with temperatures falling to or near 10 C during the Southern Hemisphere's winter. The relatively low temperatures of the Peruvian coastal desert are caused by the cold Humboldt Current. Ocean water temperatures in Lima in September, the coldest month, are as low as 14.4 C similar to water temperatures near Los Angeles during its winter months.

The cold waters of the Humboldt Current also create a moist fog called garúa in Peru. The cold water, especially in the Southern Hemisphere's winter from May to November, cause an inversion, the air near the ocean surface being cooler than the air above, contrary to most climatic situations. During the Southern Hemisphere's winter, the trade winds blow thick stratus clouds inland over coastal areas up to an elevation of 1000 m and the dense fog coalesces into drizzle and mist. In the Southern Hemisphere's summer from December to April, the weather is mostly sunny. The moisturizing impact of the fog is increased by the high average humidity of the coastal deserts. For example, Lima has an average humidity of 84 percent, more than double the average humidity of most deserts. As a result of the fog, Lima gets only 1,230 hours of sunshine annually, and less than 50 hours each in the months of July, August, and September. By contrast, Seattle, not noted for its sunny weather, receives 2,170 hours of sunshine annually and "foggy London town" receives 1,618 hours.

As elevation increases moving inland from Lima and other coastal locations, so also does precipitation. Chosica, 50 km inland from the Pacific at an elevation of 835 m gets 109 mm annually of precipitation compared to Lima's precipitation of 16 mm. Matucana, 80 km inland at an elevation of 2464 m gets 479 mm of precipitation.

Apart from the irrigated agriculture in 57 river valleys coming down from the Andes and passing through the desert en route to the ocean, the coastal desert is almost without vegetation. In a few favored locations, where mountains come close to the sea and the fog condenses on the mountain slopes, the garúa permits vegetation to thrive in "fog oases," called lomas in Peru. Lomas range in size from very small to more than 40000 ha and their flora includes many endemic species. Scholars have described individual lomas as "an island of vegetation in a virtual ocean of desert." Peru has more than 40 lomas totalling in area less than 2000 sqkm out of a total coastal desert area of 144000 sqkm.

Andean highlands
The chain of mountains called the Andes, comprising 28 percent of the national territory, runs the length of Peru, a narrow 80 km wide at the Ecuadorian border in the north and 350 km wide in the south along the border with Bolivia. The Andes, with elevations almost entirely above 2000 m and mostly above 3000 m, rise above the desert to the west and the tropical rain forest to the east. The mountain climates are cool, often cold, with varied precipitation depending upon exposure. In general the western slopes of the Andres, facing the Pacific Ocean, are drier than the eastern slopes. Beginning at latitude 8.64° S and continuing southward are many snow-capped and glaciated peaks more that 5000 m in elevation. Thirty-seven mountain peaks in Peru rise to more than 6000 m in elevation.

A general rule for mountainous areas is that temperature decreases by about 6.5 C-change for each 1000 m increase in elevation provided that the change in altitude takes place at the same latitude and other factors such as precipitation and cloud cover are similar. The temperature decline with increasing elevation is less than the average on the Pacific coast side of the Andes because of the unusually low temperature of the fog-bound coast. The steep slopes and the sharp changes in elevation result in a large number of microclimates in which a change of location of a few kilometres can result in major climatic changes. The common precipitation regime of the Andes is a rainy summer season from October to April and a dry winter from May to September. Snow is common at elevations of more than 3800 m. The city of Puno at that elevation has snow 14 days per year on average and it has snowed in every month of the year except November. Puno experiences freezing temperatures an average of 226 mornings annually, with freezes occurring in every month and the permanent snow line is at about 5000 m.

The following table summarizes climatic statistics for cities in the Andes mountain region. The indigenous peoples of Peru have been farming in the Andes for thousands of years despite the severe climatic limitations. Compensating for the lack of a freeze-free growing season at elevations above 3000 m, indigenous farmers up until the 21st century have sought out microclimates and used techniques such as andenes (terraces) and Waru Waru (raised beds) to capture and store heat and permit hardy crops such as potatoes to grow up to 4050 m in elevation. Llamas and alpacas are grazed on the sparse vegetation of the puna zone up to elevations of 4770 m.

Amazon rainforest
The Amazon rainforest region comprises about 60 percent of the total area of Peru and is characterized, as is the coast, by its climatic uniformity: hot average temperatures with little variation among the seasons and abundant precipitation. While there are locations that fit into all three of the Köppen tropical types of climate, Af, Am, and Aw, the differences among the three climates in Peru are small. The true tropical rainforest (Af) climate requires at least 60 mm precipitation in all months of the year. Pucallpa (Am) has only one month that falls below that threshold; Puerto Esperanza (Aw) has three months below the Af threshold. The driest months are in the Southern Hemisphere's winter of June through August.

The dividing line between the Amazon and Andean climates is uncertain, but depends mostly on elevation. Temperatures become cooler with elevation and around 1550 m elevation the climate becomes sub-tropical rather than tropical, a climate often characterized as "eternal spring." In Oxapampa, Cfb under the Köppen classification, temperatures rarely fall below 11 C or rise above 26 C and rain is abundant year-round. A few locations at elevations similar to Oxapampa have a pronounced dry season and are classified as Cwb (sub-tropical highland with a dry winter), rather than Cfb.

The following table summarizes climatic statistics for cities and towns in the Amazon rainforest region.

While Quince Mil has the highest precipitation of places in Peru with a weather station, climatologists say that the slopes of low mountains northwest of Quince Mil in Manu National Park may receive more than 8000 mm of rain annually.

El Niño
El Niño (the "boy child") and La Niña (the "girl child") are the manifestations of the El Niño–Southern Oscillation which influences weather around the world, but especially near the coasts of northern Peru and southern Ecuador. The warm phase, El Niño, occurs every two to seven years. Ocean temperatures on the coast of Peru increase by as much as 3 C-change during the Southern Hemisphere's summer, beginning about Christmas, the name El Niño referring to the birth of Jesus. El Niño brings warmer and sunnier weather to the coasts of Peru than normal. In especially impactful years, as occurred in 1982–1983, 1997–1998, and 2015–2017, El Niño causes heavy rainfall in coastal northern Peru in what is a desert that rarely receives any rain at all. Floods and landslides (huaycos) are the consequence; the warm water reduces fishing catches; and the southern Andes of Peru suffer reduced precipitation.

Climate change
Climatic statistics cited in this article are for the period 1982-2012 and may become inaccurate in the future because of climate change and global warming. Average annual temperatures rose by 1 C-change from 1960 until 2016 and are predicted to increase by an additional 2 to 3 C-change by 2065. Sea level is projected to rise by 50 cm by 2100. Extreme weather events, including drought and flood, are anticipated to become more frequent.

The most immediately visible problem of climatic change in Peru is the melting of glaciers in the Andes. Peru is home to 71 percent of the world's tropical glaciers and since 1970 glacial volume has decreased by 40 percent. Many areas of Peru depend upon glacial melt for water for consumption, irrigation, and industry. In the Cordillera Blanca, for example, glacial melt provides 80 percent of water in the rivers during the dry season and 4-8 percent during the rainy season. The consequence of increased glacial melt is floods during the wet season and less water in rivers during the dry season. The desert coast of Peru has 52 percent of Peru's population on 12 percent of its land area and is especially vulnerable to fluctuations in its water supply, nearly all of which comes from rivers originating in the Andes. Accelerated glacial melt and the eventual disappearance of glaciers will severely impact the quantity of water available in the coastal and mountain regions.

The Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) estimates that economic losses related to climate change for Peru could reach over 15% of national gross domestic product (GDP) by 2100. Being a large country with a long coastline, snow-capped mountains and sizeable forests, Peru's varying ecosystems are extremely vulnerable to climate change. Several mountain glaciers have already begun to retreat, leading to water scarcity in some areas. In the period between 1990 and 2015, Peru experienced a 99% increase in per capita carbon emissions from fossil fuel and cement production, marking one of the largest increases amongst South American countries.

Peru brought in a National Strategy on Climate Change in 2003. It is a detailed accounting of 11 strategic focuses that prioritize scientific research, mitigation of climate change effects on the poor, and creating Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) mitigation and adaptation policies.

In 2010, the Peruvian Ministry of Environment published a Plan of Action for Adaptation and Mitigation of Climate Change. The Plan categorises existing and future programmes into seven action groups, including: reporting mechanisms on GHG emissions, mitigation, adaptation, research and development of technology of systems, financing and management, and public education. It also contains detailed budget information and analysis relating to climate change.

In 2014, Peru hosted the Twentieth Conference of the Parties of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC COP20) negotiations. At the same time, Peru enacted a new climate law which provides for the creation of a national greenhouse gas inventory system called INFOCARBONO. According to the Low Emission Development Strategies Global Partnership (LEDS GP), INFOCARBONO is a major transformation of the country's greenhouse gas management system. Previously, the system was under the sole control of the Peruvian Ministry of the Environment. The new framework makes each relevant ministry responsible for their own share of greenhouse gas management.