Gaps of uprooted or broken trees in Amazonia have cascading consequences, from local farm productivity to global carbon storage. Severe rain or thunderstorms with descending winds, expected to become more frequent with climate change, cause these gaps. For the first time, researchers show how the gaps vary across seasons and years in central Amazonia (Brazil). They found the trees break or fall more often between September and February. They also found that gaps were driven by storms forming in southern Amazonia and moving northeast.