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74     4,500 m, Venezuela
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The closer we get to the equator, the higher we have to be to hit ice and snow. While it occasionally does snow here at 4,500 m in the Venezuelan Andes (above Merida, Venezuela), the snowy nights are generally warmer (because the cloud cover holds in the heat) and the snow melts before it can accumulate. On the really cold nights, when both ground water and water accumulated in leaf swamps freezes solid, the nights are clear (and radiate their heat). While there are no trees in this barren landscape (and they have not been cut down), there are woody plants.
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