The Finale !

Climate Over the Years...

January Monthly Mean Temperature of Trujillo

June Monthly Mean Temperature

Addios Trujillo, Hasta la proxima vez!

Now that our trip is coming to an end, let us go over the fun facts on the city of Trujillo weather!!!

The charts above take us through a history of weather in Trujillo.  The first chart covers twenty-five years of January temperatures in the city.  The second chart follows the month of June.  

Remember, Trujillo is a desert city near the sea, which leaves it open to El Nino.  In the past El Nino has come through the city causing landslides, floods, and disease.  In 1998, massive flooding allowed for the river to carve its way through the city's cemetery, carrying bodies into the colonial town square.  Too Sad!

As we know, the city has a mild desert climate.  According to the Köppen Climate classification BWh and BWk.  If you don't remember Köppen's method, here is a quick review.  

According to Köppen, BWh and BWk are type B climate, which is the only one not defined by climate.  Instead Type B defines climate in which the controlling factor on vegation is dryness.  Sound familiar?  YES, because that is similiar to Colorado weather.  Cool right?

So what about the Wh and Wk???  Since aridity is defined by the relationship between the precipitation input to the soil (where the plants grow) and evaporation, Köppen had to introduce terms that could identify aridity into an temperatue-precipitation index.  This lead to dry climates getting divided into:  Arid - BW and Semiarid - BS

With the added third code (h) representing warm and (k) for cold!

So now we know that Trujillo is a Dry Arrid warm and cold type!  So what about other places?

My classmate Matthew Ruggieri observed the mid-latitude climate of Saugerties, New York.  

Compared to Trujillo's year long sunny and pleasant weather, Saugerties has cold winters and hot summers.  So typical New York weather.  However the warm Gulf Stream brings in warm currents which leads to a precipitation increase.  Unlike the desert city where it is dry, Saugerties is more of a wooded grassland area.  

Although both cities are far away they still share many similiraties.  Although Saugerities is affected by the cP air mass and Trujillo is affected by the mE, they both are influened by the mP and mT air masses.  Lastly our two cities, live near a mountain and a river, (not planned).

Air Masses off the Coast of Peru

Air Masses are bodies of air in which the gradients of temperature and moisture are fairly uniform over a large area.  Horizontally, an air mass may extend over a large portion of a continent.  Vertically, the air mass may extend through the troposphere.

Air Masses are named primarily for the regions in which 
they form, in Peru's case they are close to:

mT - Maritime Tropical
mE - Maritime Equatorial
mP - Maritime Polar

As you can see below, the coast of Peru is getting hit by two sets of trade winds.  The North-east trade winds and the South-east trade winds.  What is even more interesting, is how close Peru is to the Equatorial Low as well.  

COASTAL DESERT 

On the northern coast of Peru, lies a small uninhabited region is known as the Sechura Desert.  Thanks to El Nino patterns the region is relatively wet and vegetated.  

El Nino originates off the stretch of the coast every few years and affects weather patterns around the globe.  Due to the intense weather, the Sechura Desert has become the home to the second largest body of water in Peru. 

This ninety-mile long fresh water lake was formed in 1998 when heavy rains caused rivers bordering the desert to burst through the banks and flow into the lowlands.  Large portions of the Sechura Desert, to this day, are still studded with shrubs and scrub grass. 

Sounds Cool right?   If you want to explore Peru’s deserts, then a good starting point would be the city of Trujillo.  The city lies north-west of the country and is near many archaeological sites and the Andes.

Welcome to Trujillo, Peru!

The Capital of the Eternal Spring, or La Ciudad de la Eterna Primavera, is the nickname for the city of Trujillo, Peru.  This historic city is the second oldest Spanish city in Peru and resides on the banks of the Moche River.

The arrow is pointing to the Moche River - Google Maps

An interesting fact about the area is that it's considered a coastal desert.  What is a coastal desert?  When doing my research I came upon the same question since the two sound very contradicting.  According to a USGS publication, coastal deserts are found on the western edges of continents near the Tropics of Cancer and Capricorn.  In other words, this still may happen to you  >

Do not let the word "coastal" fool you.  The coast of Trujillo is constantly affected by the cold ocean currents hitting the coast.  Which ultimately leads to a very unstable desert.  In my blog post, I will talk more about coastal deserts, the Mocha River Valley, and my new personal favorite discovery, Winter Fog.

Here are some cool facts about the weather in Trujillo:

• Trujillo has dry periods in January, February, March and April.
• On average, the warmest month is March.
• On average, the coolest month is August.
• April is the wettest month.
• January is the driest month.
• 
  
• According to weatherspark.com, the area within 25 miles of this station is covered by oceans and seas (63%), grasslands (20%), forests (13%), and shrublands (3%)

The monthly average weather is shown below:

As you can see from this graph, taken from "trujillo.climatemps.com," it shows the months with the highest precipitation:  January, February, and March.

My blog will monitor the last twenty-five years of climate in the city of Trujillo.  My ultimate goal is to follow El Nino patterns and follow how those major changes affected the local agriculture.