Today I came across a news item about low levels in Venezuela's Guri Reservoir that feeds a 15 GW hydroelectric plant. It is the third largest hydro plant in the world and it supplies 73 % of Venezuela's electric power. The reservoir is fed by the Caroni River, which originates in mountains about 2800 m high. During this season, winds coming in from the ocean blow over the mountains. I would imagine that this would be the time when they should get some orographic precipitation, but the article seemed to indicate that this was the dry season. Alas, they didn't offer Meteorology 101 in Brooklyn Poly, and I doubt that I would have been interested in it then. The wind patterns shown in my $ 4.99 atlas sure don't look like the Trade Winds that I see in elementary books. Whatever. It used to rain on those mountains, or they wouldn't have built such a big hydro plant. Now they don't have enough rain. Hugo Chavez blames it on El Nino, but maybe he has aerosols, like everybody else. If so, he might want to think about large rafts of solar-heated evaporator panels moored in his coastal waters.