Average annual precipitation by countries in Latin America

[Zanzibar]

Based on the data on this website, the top three wettest countries seem to be Colombia, Panama and Costa Rica. The three driest ones are Argentina, Mexico and Paraguay although Bolivia also comes very close in terms of precipitation to Paraguay. https://www.theglobaleconomy.com/ran...tion/Latin-Am/

My bad I noticed this chart lack the precipitation for Cuba even though from what I seen in other websites, Cuba has around 1335 mm of precipitation on average which seems pretty dry for Latin America standards.



https://www.nationmaster.com/country...th/Mm-per-year


Also Colombia seems to be the wettest country not only in Latin America, but in the world according to this website: https://knoema.com/atlas/topics/Wate...ation-in-depth

This is from 2011 but I think gives a good comparison of the precipitation of Latin America compared to other regions of the world: https://www.nationmaster.com/country...th/Mm-per-year

Latin America is very wet/humid when compared to other regions of the world like Sub Saharan Africa, South and Central Asia, MENA or Europe. Unfortunately, there isn't an average made for East/SE Asian countries and Oceanian countries, but Oceanian/Pacific Islands and SE Asian countries are more wetter than Latin America in terms of precipitation based on the various data I saw for all the countries in those regions.

The average precipitation in Lat Am is around 1774.3 mm: https://www.nationmaster.com/country...th/Mm-per-year
Compared to Sub Saharan Africa's average of 1097.46 mm: https://www.nationmaster.com/country...th/Mm-per-year
Or South and Central Asia (they combined them together) average of 1061.15 mm: https://www.nationmaster.com/country...th/Mm-per-year although there is also a separate South Asian average which is around 1354 mm: https://www.nationmaster.com/country-info/group-stats/South-Asia/Geography/Average-precipitation-in-depth/Mm-per-year"Europe's average of 848.95 mm: https://www.nationmaster.com/country...th/Mm-per-year and MENA's average of 186.81 mm: https://www.nationmaster.com/country...th/Mm-per-year

For example, in the total list of 182 countries here, Egypt is at #182 which basically means it is the driest country at only 18 mm on average, Colombia is at #1 which means the wettest country in the world at around 3240 mm on average.
-Ecuador ranks the 23rd most wettest country at around 2274 mm.
-Brazil and Peru ranks 43 and 44 in terms of worldwide precipitation at around 1761 mm and 1738 mm,
-Chile ranks 57th out of 182 countries at 1522 mm,
-Dominican Republic the 66th most wettest nation, 1410 mm
-Cuba and Uruguay ranks 69th and 70th at 1335 mm and 1300 mm.
-Paraguay and Bolivia which is the third and fourth driest Lat Am nations rank 82th and 83th at 1146 mm and 1130 mm.
-Mexico the second most driest place in the region ranks 110th out of 182 nations at only 758 mm
-Argentina being the 134th most rainiest place at only 591 mm per year.

Now compared to Sub Saharan African, Asian or European countries that on average tend to have much less precipitation:
-Nigeria ranks 81th most rainiest country out of 182 at 1150 mm, Kenya the 126th most rainiest country at 630 mm, South Africa the 144th wettest place at only 495 mm,
-India is 87th wettest place at 1083 mm, China ranks 123th most rainiest place at 645 mm, Kazakhstan is the 160th rainiest place at 250 mm
-France is the 100th out of 182 countries in precipitation at 867 mm, Spain the 125th rainiest country at 636 mm, Germany ranks 114th at 700 mm
-Iran ranks 164th at 228 mm, UAE ranks 178th at only 78 mm, Morocco ranks 153th at 346 mm
-USA is the 112th most rainiest nation at 715 mm, Canada ranks 139th at 537 mm, Australia is the 141th most rainiest place at 534 mm


You can also see the global picture here. Latin America, once again is very wet/rainy compared to most other regions: https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/a...ation-per-year



Another good map showing the overall annual average precipitation in the world including Lat Am:



Also this data: https://knoema.com/atlas/topics/Wate...ation-in-depth

Do you agree with this? Thoughts and opinions?

It's really interesting how dry Bolivia is compared to Peru and Ecuador...

[Diego Garcia]

Not at all.

The Atacama desert, in the north of Chile, scarcely receives 1 mm of annual precipitations, even less.



https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atacama_Desert#Aridity

[Zanzibar]

Not at all.

The Atacama desert, in the north of Chile, scarcely receives 1 mm of annual precipitations, even less.



https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atacama_Desert#Aridity

Sure. But you should check the average annual precipitation of Chile: https://knoema.com/atlas/topics/Wate...ation-in-depth

It is 1522 mm for Chile which is pretty wet, that's even wetter than the UK which is around 1220 mm or Ireland at 1118 mm.

Don't you find that strange how Chile has more precipitation than UK or Ireland?

[Zanzibar]

I find it really weird how wet Peru and Chile is compared to Bolivia and Paraguay which is much drier in terms of precipitation.

Like Peru and Chile has around 1732 mm and 1522 mm which is much wetter than most African countries who tend to be around 1000-1100 mm in terms of average annual precipitation. Ex. Nigeria has around 1150 mm and Angola has approx 1010 mm. I would thought Peru would be much drier due to its coastal deserts which literally have zero rain and Andean highlands which also has low precipitation (around 600-900 mm from the data of various cities such as Cusco, Ayacucho, Huancayo, Puno that I saw).

Is this because Peru and Chile contains large rainforests in its territory that has large amounts of rain?

[Diego Garcia]

Sure. But you should check the average annual precipitation of Chile: https://knoema.com/atlas/topics/Wate...ation-in-depth

It is 1522 mm for Chile which is pretty wet, that's even wetter than the UK which is around 1220 mm or Ireland at 1118 mm.

Don't you find that strange how Chile has more precipitation than UK or Ireland?

Oh yes, sure, that's a classification according to state-nations. State-nations are all, but natural. I'd rather classify annual precipitacions according to geographical areas. It might award more information about them.

No, I wouldn't get surprised at all. It's curious but not that surprising. Chile is a too long state-nation. South Chile is very close to the Antarctic area and has to receive more precipitations, not only rain but also snow, than the British Isles. Besides, Chile also suffers periodically from strong storms by El Niño Phenomenon.

Both phenomenons cold explain the precipitation differences between both geographical areas.

[Zanzibar]

Oh yes, sure, that's a classification according to state-nations. State-nations are all, but natural. I'd rather classify annual precipitacions according to geographical areas. It might award more information about them.

No, I wouldn't get surprised at all. It's curious but not that surprising. Chile is a too long state-nation. South Chile is very close to the Antarctic area and has to receive more precipitations, not only rain but also snow, than the British Isles. Besides, Chile also suffers periodically from strong storms by El Niño Phenomenon.

Both phenomenons cold explain the precipitation differences between both geographical areas.

Good point. Maybe its better to look at precipitation through the lens of geographical areas than nations.

Southern Chile has a lot of heavy rain and snow? I guess its mainly the Northern and Central part of Chile that is drier?

[Diego Garcia]

Good point. Maybe its better to look at precipitation through the lens of geographical areas than nations.

Southern Chile has a lot of heavy rain and snow? I guess its mainly the Northern and Central part of Chile that is drier?

I think so, although I'm not an expert, anyways.

As far as I know, North Chile is arid --a very good example, the Atacama desert, the most arid desert in the world, Central Chile seems to be of a sort of a mediterranean climate, and south Chile is kinda sub-antarctic.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Climate_of_Chile

[Zanzibar]

Bump

[Zanzibar]

I'm surprised by how Dominican Republic, Uruguay is drier in terms of precipitation than in countries like Peru, Ecuador.

[RMuller]

Well im not surprised Mexico is very dry. Mexico has 2 deserts that extend into the southwest USA. The Sonoran desert and the Chihuahuan desert.
So you can't stereotype Mexico as a typical tropical "regaytonero" Latin American country.