Abra Pampa
Municipality and town in Jujuy Province, Argentina
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Abra Pampa is a town and municipality in Jujuy Province in Argentina,[1] and is the capital of the Department of Cochinoca. The city is the economic center and communication of the Puna, it is the second town in importance in the region, after La Quiaca which is 73 km to the north by the Ruta Nacional 9, paved road, which also connects with the provincial capital, 224 km away.
History
Climate
Typical for this region of the Altiplano, Abra Pampa has a cool semi-arid climate (Köppen BSk) with two distinct seasons. Throughout the year, afternoon temperatures range form comfortable to warm, but diurnal temperature ranges are very large due to the hot sun and thin air. There is a partly cloudy, thundery wet season with mornings that are merely chilly between December and March, and a rainless, cloudless dry season with freezing to frigid mornings from April to November. The clearest month is July; the cloudiest month is January; and the wettest month is February. In spite of being in the tropics, the extreme diurnals make average winter nights resemble those of the upper Nordics and the Great Plains of North America.
In 1981-1990, the average annual minimum temperature was −2.4 °C or 27.7 °F, and the village endures an average of 67 mornings per year with daily minimum temperature at or below −12 °C or 10.4 °F. The coldest months of the year are June and July, with an average low temperature of −11 °C or 12.2 °F and −12 °C or 10.4 °F respectively. The warmest month of the year is December with an average maximum temperature of 21.1 °C or 70.0 °F.
| Climate data for Abra Pampa, Elevation: 3,484 metres or 11,430 feet. (1981-1990, extremes 1971-1990) | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Month | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | Year |
| Record high °C (°F) | 26.0 (78.8) |
27.0 (80.6) |
26.0 (78.8) |
24.0 (75.2) |
23.0 (73.4) |
20.0 (68.0) |
22.0 (71.6) |
24.0 (75.2) |
24.0 (75.2) |
26.5 (79.7) |
27.5 (81.5) |
27.0 (80.6) |
27.5 (81.5) |
| Mean daily maximum °C (°F) | 20.4 (68.7) |
19.4 (66.9) |
19.8 (67.6) |
19.1 (66.4) |
16.4 (61.5) |
14.0 (57.2) |
14.3 (57.7) |
17.0 (62.6) |
18.8 (65.8) |
20.9 (69.6) |
21.4 (70.5) |
21.1 (70.0) |
18.5 (65.3) |
| Daily mean °C (°F) | 13.0 (55.4) |
11.9 (53.4) |
12.0 (53.6) |
9.5 (49.1) |
4.8 (40.6) |
2.1 (35.8) |
1.9 (35.4) |
5.3 (41.5) |
8.2 (46.8) |
10.9 (51.6) |
12.3 (54.1) |
12.9 (55.2) |
8.7 (47.7) |
| Mean daily minimum °C (°F) | 5.9 (42.6) |
5.2 (41.4) |
4.1 (39.4) |
−1.6 (29.1) |
−8.2 (17.2) |
−11.0 (12.2) |
−12.0 (10.4) |
−9.4 (15.1) |
−6.1 (21.0) |
−1.9 (28.6) |
1.9 (35.4) |
4.5 (40.1) |
−2.4 (27.7) |
| Record low °C (°F) | −3.0 (26.6) |
−2.0 (28.4) |
−5.0 (23.0) |
−10.0 (14.0) |
−16.0 (3.2) |
−18.5 (−1.3) |
−23.0 (−9.4) |
−19.0 (−2.2) |
−18.0 (−0.4) |
−12.0 (10.4) |
−9.5 (14.9) |
−5.0 (23.0) |
−23.0 (−9.4) |
| Average precipitation mm (inches) | 94.3 (3.71) |
89.4 (3.52) |
79.7 (3.14) |
8.1 (0.32) |
0.0 (0.0) |
0.0 (0.0) |
0.0 (0.0) |
0.2 (0.01) |
0.9 (0.04) |
4.6 (0.18) |
35.0 (1.38) |
71.9 (2.83) |
387.6 (15.26) |
| Average precipitation days | 11 | 11 | 8 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.1 | 0.1 | 2 | 5 | 9 | 48.2 |
| Average relative humidity (%) | 66 | 65 | 62 | 50 | 41 | 40 | 36 | 38 | 35 | 43 | 53 | 60 | 49 |
| Mean monthly sunshine hours | 257.3 | 233.7 | 254.2 | 270.0 | 282.1 | 264.0 | 285.2 | 291.4 | 285.0 | 291.4 | 279.0 | 266.6 | 3,259.9 |
| Percentage possible sunshine | 62 | 64 | 67 | 77 | 82 | 82 | 84 | 82 | 79 | 74 | 70 | 64 | 74 |
| Source: SMN: Estación Meteorológica Abra Pampa - Período 1981–1990 | |||||||||||||
Population
The 2001 INDEC census found 7,496 inhabitants in urban areas and 9,425 inhabitants in the entire municipality.