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Geography
Area: 2.8 million sq. km. (1.1 million sq. mi.); about the size of the U.S. east
of the Mississippi River; second-largest country in South America.
Cities: Capital--Buenos Aires (city 3 million; metropolitan area 13 million).
Other major cities--Cordoba (1.2 million); Rosario (950,000); Mar del Plata
(900,000); Mendoza (400,000).
Terrain: Andes mountains and foothills in the west. Aconcagua (7,021 m; 23,034
ft) is highest peak in the Western Hemisphere; remainder of country is lowland;
central region characterized by vast grassy plains (pampas).
Climate: Varied--predominantly temperate with extremes ranging from subtropical
in the north to arid/subantarctic in far south.
Climate
Temperate climatic conditions prevail throughout most of Argentina, except for
a small tropical area in the northeast and the subtropical Chaco in the north.
In Buenos Aires the average temperature range is 17° to 29° C (63° to 85° F) in
January and 6° to 14° C (42° to 57° F) in July. Precipitation in Argentina is
marked by wide regional variations.
More than 1,520 mm (60 in) fall annually in the extreme north, but conditions
gradually become semiarid to the south and west. In the vicinity of Buenos Aires
annual rainfall is about 950 mm (about 37 in). In the vicinity of Mendoza annual
rainfall is about 190 mm (about 7 in).
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