WEATHER

The Amazon is defined by its weather. It is a rainforest — this translates to between 70 to 100 inches of rain yearly. By comparison, Los Angeles receives about 7 inches per year. Even London, where people thinks it rains all the time, gets only 30 inches annually. The pictures here give a sense of how weather varies through the Amazon day—from the cool of morning to the warm mid-day then to sultry afternoon, often marked by dramatic thunderstorms. Weather in the Amazon is superficially simple, but locally complex. The Amazon lies approximately on the equator for the length of its 4,000 mile journey across the South American continent. Being on the equator, the weather does not change much throughout the year. Hence the climate is tropical—warm and humid, with plenty of sunshine and frequent rainfall. (In the lowland river basin, temperatures average 70° to 90°F during the day, 60° to 70°F at night. Mountainous areas on the edge of the Amazon Basin can be considerably cooler.)