Climate and average weather in Ushuaia

In Ushuaia, the summers are cool, wet, and mostly cloudy and the winters are very cold, snowy, and mostly cloudy.

Best: early January to mid March

Over the course of the year, the temperature in Ushuaia typically varies from -5°C to 11°C, and is rarely below -10°C or above 15°C. January is the hottest month of the year, while July is the coldest.

Based on the travel score, the best time of year to visit Ushuaia for warm-weather activities is from early January to mid March.

Hottest
Jan
11°
Coldest
Jul
-5°
Wettest
Jan
100 mm
Driest
Sep
48 mm
Rain / yr
806 mm
189 wet days
Daylight
6.9–17.1 h
shortest–longest
Elevation
6 m
54.8°S
Clearest
Sep
73% cloud

Ushuaia is capital of Tierra del Fuego in Argentina.

Density
2,471/km²
people per km²
Founded
1884

Air quality: WHO Ambient Air Quality Database. Density & description: Wikidata (CC0), GeoNames.

Ushuaia weather by month, at a glance

The whole year in one picture — sky, rain, humidity, temperature and travel score. Click any band to jump to its full chart.

Each stripe is one measure across the whole year, stacked so a single day reads top to bottom. The sky band runs overcast grey on top down to clear blue at the base — more blue means sunnier — followed by the rainfall curve, the humidity band, a temperature strip that tints each stretch of the year by how warm its average high is, and the travel-score line at the foot. Scan straight down any date to read that day across every measure at once; the score climbs highest around early January to mid March.

Temperature through the year

Average highAverage lowShaded bands: 10–90% of days

Daily average highs and lows in Ushuaia, from 1991–2020 of climate data. The shaded bands show the range most days fall in — 10th to 90th percentile.

The hot season lasts 4.3 months, from November 12 to March 23, with daily high temperatures above 8°C. The hottest month of the year in Ushuaia is January, with an average high of 11°C and low of 4°C.

The cool season lasts 3.1 months, from May 24 to August 26, with daily high temperatures below 2°C. The coldest month of the year in Ushuaia is July, with an average low of -5°C and high of 0°C.

Days typically run about 6°C warmer than nights year-round.

-10°-5°10°15°20°JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Avg high (°C)Avg low (°C)
Jan114
Feb114
Mar93
Apr61
May3-2
Jun0-4
Jul0-5
Aug2-4
Sep4-3
Oct6-1
Nov91
Dec103

How hot and cold Ushuaia really feels

Feels-like highFeels-like lowactual air temp

The felt-temperature range through the year — heat index on the day's high (summer humidity), wind chill on the night's low (winter wind). The dashed lines are the plain thermometer; the gap is how much hotter or colder it really feels.

On the coldest nights, wind chill pulls the feels-like down to about -8°C (around June 28), with roughly 270 freezing days a year (feels-like at or below 0°C), worst in June.

-10°-5°10°15°JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Feels-like high (°C)Air high (°C)Feels-like low (°C)Air low (°C)
Jan111114
Feb111114
Mar9903
Apr66-21
May33-5-2
Jun00-8-4
Jul00-8-5
Aug22-8-4
Sep44-6-3
Oct66-4-1
Nov99-21
Dec101003

Average hourly temperature in Ushuaia

A compact picture of the whole year, hour by hour: each column is a day, each row an hour, and the color is the modeled average temperature. Darker overlays mark night, lighter ones the civil-twilight hours around sunrise and sunset.

Read left to right for the day of the year and top to bottom for the hour of the day; the color is the modeled temperature, cool blues through to hot reds on the same scale as the other charts. A vertical slice is a single day's swing — coolest just before dawn, warmest in the mid-afternoon — while a horizontal slice follows one hour across the seasons. The darker overlay marks night and the lighter one the twilight around sunrise and sunset. Colors run warmest on January afternoons, near 11°C, and coldest before dawn in July, near -5°C.

JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec12 AM2 AM4 AM6 AM8 AM10 AM12 PM2 PM4 PM6 PM8 PM10 PM12 AM

Ushuaia weather by month

Every month at a glance. Click a month for its detailed page.

MonthHigh / Low (°C)Rainfall (mm)Wet daysSnow daysDaylight (hours)Travel score
Jan11° / 10022.4116.41.9
Feb11° / 7617.61.314.72.0
Mar / 7916.8312.61.5
Apr / 6615.26.910.30.5
May / -2°5712.58.78.20.0
Jun / -4°5012.1127.10.0
Jul / -5°4912.212.47.50.0
Aug / -4°501212.39.30.0
Sep / -3°4812.510.711.50.0
Oct / -1°5614.78.313.80.5
Nov / 7618.75.615.91.3
Dec10° / 9921.82.916.91.6

Chance of rain

How likely it is to rain on a typical day, and how that shifts across the wetter and drier seasons.

Ushuaia gets about 806 mm of precipitation a year. On a typical day the chance of rain is very wet, but that rises and falls sharply with the seasons.

The wetter season lasts 5.2 months, from around Oct 22 to Mar 29, peaking in January at about 73% chance on a given day. The drier stretch runs the rest of the year, bottoming out around Aug 27.

January is the wettest month by volume, with 100 mm over about 22 wet days; September is the driest, with 48 mm. Some of the cold-season precipitation falls as snow.

0%10%20%30%40%50%60%70%80%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecwetterdrierwettermostly drysome rainoften wetvery wetJan 7 · 73%Aug 27 · 38%
Rain on a day (%)Rain days
Jan7122
Feb6318
Mar5517
Apr5015
May4113
Jun4012
Jul3912
Aug3912
Sep4113
Oct4815
Nov6219
Dec7122

Monthly rainfall

Over a full year, Ushuaia collects about 806 mm of rain across 189 wet days — roughly 67 mm in an average month.

It doesn’t fall evenly. January is the wettest month with 100 mm, while September is the driest at just 48 mm. The three wettest months alone bring about 34% of the year’s total, and some of the cold-season precipitation falls as snow.

0255075100125JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec1007679665750495048567699
Rainfall (mm)Rain daysSnow days
Jan100221
Feb76181
Mar79173
Apr66157
May57139
Jun501212
Jul491212
Aug501212
Sep481311
Oct56158
Nov76196
Dec99223

Snow in Ushuaia

Average snowy days through the year, the snow-season span, and estimated snowfall — for ski trips and the perennial 'will there be snow at Christmas?' question.

Ushuaia averages about 85 snowy days a year. Snow falls only in scattered spells rather than a settled season.

August is snowiest, with roughly 12 days of snow and an estimated 49 cm of snowfall. Over the year that adds up to an estimated 327 cm of snow.

051015JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecAug 12
Snow daysSnowfall (cm)
Jan13
Feb15
Mar313
Apr725
May929
Jun1248
Jul1246
Aug1249
Sep1145
Oct835
Nov618
Dec311

Clouds and sunshine

ClearMostly clearPartly cloudyMostly cloudyOvercast

How often the daytime sky is clear, partly cloudy or overcast.

In Ushuaia, the average share of the sky covered by clouds shows moderate seasonal variation over the course of the year.

The clearer part of the year begins around August 6 and lasts for 3.4 months, ending around November 18. The clearest month is September, when the sky is clear, mostly clear, or partly cloudy 27% of the time on average.

The cloudier part of the year begins around May 7 and lasts for 3.0 months, ending around August 5. The cloudiest month is June, when it is overcast or mostly cloudy 87% of the time.

0%100%10%90%20%80%30%70%40%60%50%50%60%40%70%30%80%20%90%10%100%0%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecSep 8 · 28%Jun 19 · 12%partly cloudymostly cloudyovercastcloudierclearercloudier
Clearer (%)Cloudier (%)
Jan1684
Feb2080
Mar2080
Apr1882
May1783
Jun1387
Jul1585
Aug2278
Sep2773
Oct2476
Nov2080
Dec1684

Daylight, sunrise and sunset

DaylightNight

Hours of daylight through the year, with sunrise and sunset times.

The gold band is daylight — sunrise runs along its lower edge, sunset along the upper — so it widens toward summer and pinches toward winter, with night the dark area above and below. The longest day, around December 19, brings about 17 h 06 min of light; the shortest, around June 20, only 6 h 54 min — a swing of roughly 10 h 12 min.

12 AM4 AM8 AM12 PM4 PM8 PM12 AMJanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Daylight (h)Sunrise (AM)Sunset (PM)
Jan16.45:289:57
Feb14.76:279:09
Mar12.67:268:00
Apr10.38:276:40
May8.29:245:35
Jun7.110:045:03
Jul7.59:555:23
Aug9.38:596:15
Sep11.57:417:14
Oct13.86:238:13
Nov15.95:219:16
Dec16.94:5910:00

Sunny days

How many genuinely sunny days each month brings — days the sky stays clear or mostly clear — banded into plain-language zones.

Ushuaia gets about 1 sunny days a month gloomy — and it barely shifts through the year, holding between 1 and 3 days every month. Clear skies here are a flat line, not a season.

05JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecgloomySep 103 daysDec 301 days
Sunny daysSky
Jan1Gloomy
Feb1Gloomy
Mar1Gloomy
Apr1Gloomy
May2Gloomy
Jun1Gloomy
Jul2Gloomy
Aug2Gloomy
Sep3Gloomy
Oct2Gloomy
Nov1Gloomy
Dec1Gloomy

Humidity comfort

DryComfortableHumidMuggyOppressiveMiserable

Share of days at each humidity comfort level, based on the dew point — the measure that tracks how muggy it actually feels.

Humidity comfort is graded by the dew point — the temperature at which the air would be fully saturated — because it tracks how muggy it actually feels far better than relative humidity does. A low dew point feels dry and crisp; a high one feels sticky and oppressive no matter the reading on a humidity gauge.

In Ushuaia, the air stays dry or comfortable essentially all year. Even in January, the muggiest month, it feels humid or worse only about 0% of the time — humidity is not something you need to plan around here.

0%10%20%30%40%50%60%70%80%90%100%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecdry
Dry (%)
Jan100
Feb100
Mar100
Apr100
May100
Jun100
Jul100
Aug100
Sep100
Oct100
Nov100
Dec100

Wind

Average wind speed through the year, banded into plain-language speed zones so a number reads as 'breezy' or 'calm' without knowing the scale.

This is the average sustained wind speed at the standard 10 metres above open ground — the steady flow a weather station reports, not the sharper gusts that come and go, which can run half again as fast. It's the number that says whether a place is generally breezy or calm.

Across the year, average wind speed in Ushuaia is typically calm, near 9 km/h, and varies little with the seasons.

The windier part of the year lasts 5.7 months, from around Oct 7 to Mar 27. The windiest month is November, averaging about 10 km/h (calm).

The calmer part of the year runs from around Mar 28 to Oct 6, with May the calmest month at about 8 km/h.

051015JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecwindiercalmerwindiercalmlight breezeNov 24 · 11 km/hMay 15 · 8 km/h
Wind speed (km/h)Feels
Jan10calm
Feb10calm
Mar9calm
Apr8calm
May8calm
Jun8calm
Jul8calm
Aug8calm
Sep8calm
Oct9calm
Nov10calm
Dec10calm

Best time to visit Ushuaia

TravelBeach/poolTemperatureCloudsPrecipitation

To characterize how pleasant the weather is in Ushuaia throughout the year, we compute two travel scores — one for general sightseeing, one for beach and pool weather.

Around mid January, Ushuaia is still near the start of its best-weather window — great conditions with the peak-season crowds not yet at full swing.

Inferred from the travel-score curve; month-by-month visitor numbers are a planned addition.

The travel score favors clear, rainless days with daytime highs between 18°C and 28°C. Based on this score, the best time of year to visit Ushuaia for general outdoor tourist activities is from late December to mid March, with a peak score in the second week of February.

0246810JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecbest timetravel scoretemperaturecloudsprecipitationFeb 13 · 2.1

The travel score (filled area), and its constituents: the temperature score (red line), the cloud cover score (blue line), and the precipitation score (green line).

Travel score (0–10)Rating
Jan1.9poor
Feb2.0poor
Mar1.5poor
Apr0.5poor
May0.0poor
Jun0.0poor
Jul0.0poor
Aug0.0poor
Sep0.0poor
Oct0.5poor
Nov1.3poor
Dec1.6poor

The beach/pool score favors clear, rainless days with daytime highs between 24°C and 34°C. Ushuaia rarely gets warm enough to lift this score — no time of year really suits hot-weather activities here.

024681012JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDectemperaturecloudsprecipitation

The beach/pool score (filled area), and its constituents: the temperature score (red line), the cloud cover score (blue line), and the precipitation score (green line).

What to pack for Ushuaia, by month

EssentialRecommendedOptional

Month by month, what's worth putting in the bag — from the temperature range, rain chance, sun and wind. Tap a month for a quick packing note.

For a warm-season trip around January (highs near 11°C), the essentials are a warm layer, rain gear and sun protection. In the cold season around July (highs near 0°C), pack a warm layer, a heavy coat and rain gear.

Light clothing
Warm layer
Winter coat
Rain gear
Sun protection
Windbreaker

In January, Ushuaia sees daytime highs around 11°C and nights near 4°C. Pack a warm layer and rain gear. Worth having: sun protection. About 22 days see rain.

Sea temperature near Ushuaia

Average ocean temperature at the nearest coast, month by month, banded into swim-comfort zones — the other half of the beach question.

The sea at the nearest coast (about 64 km away) is warmest in February at about 9°C and coldest in August near 6°C.

The water stays below 20°C all year — cool enough that most swimmers want a wetsuit.

4°6°8°10°JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecbracing
Sea temperature (°C)Comfort
Jan9Bracing
Feb9Bracing
Mar9Bracing
Apr8Bracing
May8Bracing
Jun7Bracing
Jul6Bracing
Aug6Bracing
Sep6Bracing
Oct6Bracing
Nov7Bracing
Dec8Bracing

UV index (midday) in Ushuaia by month

LowModerateHighVery highExtreme

Clear-sky midday UV index through the year, shaded by the WHO exposure levels — how much sun protection each month calls for.

Under clear skies, the midday UV index in Ushuaia peaks around January 14 at about 9 (very high) — sunscreen, a hat and midday shade are essential. It bottoms out near June 19 at about 0 (low).

The index reaches 3 or more — the level where the WHO recommends sun protection — in 6 months of the year.

025710JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecVery highModerateLowModerateHighJan 14UV 9Jun 19UV 0
UV index (midday)Level
Jan9Very high
Feb7High
Mar3Moderate
Apr2Low
May1Low
Jun0Low
Jul1Low
Aug1Low
Sep2Moderate
Oct4Moderate
Nov6High
Dec8Very high

Average hourly UV index in Ushuaia

LowModerateHighVery highExtreme

Modeled clear-sky UV for every hour of every day — when in the day sun protection actually matters.

The whole year hour by hour: each column is a day, each row an hour, and the color is the modeled clear-sky UV index — the midday peak scaled down as the sun sits lower in the sky. Darker overlays mark night, lighter ones the civil-twilight hours around sunrise and sunset.

UV falls off far faster than brightness as the sun drops, so even in January the burn window is concentrated in the middle of the day: about 9 hours a day reach index 3 (protection recommended), and 5.5 hours reach 6 or more. Mornings and late afternoons stay comparatively gentle year round.

JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec12 AM2 AM4 AM6 AM8 AM10 AM12 PM2 PM4 PM6 PM8 PM10 PM12 AM
UV ≥ 3 (h/day)UV ≥ 6 (h/day)
Jan95.5
Feb72.5
Mar30
Apr00
May00
Jun00
Jul00
Aug00
Sep00
Oct50
Nov70
Dec8.54.5
Almanac & agriculture

Growing season

Chance of a frost-free dayTypical season (≥50%)

The growing season in Ushuaia typically lasts about 177 days, from around October 27 to April 21 — the span where a frost-free day is more likely than not. It is reliably frost-free from December 13 to March 9.

0%25%50%75%100%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecgrowing seasongrowing seasonAug 2910%Oct 2750%Dec 1390%Mar 990%Apr 2150%Jun 910%
Frost-free chance (%)Frost nights
Jan970
Feb950
Mar8619
Apr5830
May2631
Jun1030
Jul831
Aug831
Sep1630
Oct3831
Nov7230
Dec919

Growing degree days

Degree days (base 10°C)Frost-free shaded

Growing degree days tally heat above 10°C: each day adds however many degrees its average temperature runs over that threshold, and cold days add nothing. Ushuaia banks about 0 degree days a year, and the running total — which growers use to time plantings and predict maturity — climbs fastest around January.

050100150200JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Growing degree days (°C·days)
Jan0
Feb0
Mar0
Apr0
May0
Jun0
Jul0
Aug0
Sep0
Oct0
Nov0
Dec0

Solar energy

Average daily shortwave solar energy reaching the ground, banded into brightness zones so the number means something at a glance.

Solar energy is how much sunlight actually reaches the ground each day, measured in kilowatt-hours per square metre (kWh/m²) — the combined effect of how long the sun is up, how high it climbs, and how much cloud gets in the way. It's the raw fuel a solar panel has to work with: for scale, 1 kWh/m² a day is dim and wintry, while 7+ is desert-bright.

Ushuaia receives about 3.1 kWh/m² a day of solar energy on average — moderate — with a clear seasonal swing between 0.5 and 5.9 kWh/m².

The brighter stretch of the year lasts 5.8 months, from around Sep 17 to Mar 11. The brightest month is December, averaging about 5.9 kWh/m² (bright).

The dimmest month is June, down near 0.5 kWh/m² — roughly 91% less than the December peak.

01234567JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecbrighterdimmerbrighterdimmoderatebrightintenseDec 205.9 kWhJun 190.5 kWh
Solar energy (kWh/m²)Level
Jan5.4Bright
Feb4.3Bright
Mar2.9Moderate
Apr1.6Dim
May0.8Dim
Jun0.5Dim
Jul0.7Dim
Aug1.5Dim
Sep3.0Moderate
Oct4.6Bright
Nov5.7Bright
Dec5.9Bright

Where is Ushuaia?

Ushuaia sits at 54.8°S, 68.3°W, 6 m above sea level, in Argentina. The nearest listed city is Río Grande, 120 km away.

Punta ArenasRío GallegosPuerto NatalesEl CalafateEl ChaltenStanleyPuerto Deseado

What Ushuaia looks like

Topography around Ushuaia

How much the land rises and falls, and what covers it, within 3, 16 and 80 km of Ushuaia.

Within 3 km, the terrain around Ushuaia has significant variations in elevation — a maximum elevation change of 422 m around an average of 92 m above sea level; within 16 km, very significant variations in elevation — a maximum elevation change of 1,443 m; within 80 km, very significant variations in elevation — a maximum elevation change of 2,279 m.

The land around Ushuaia is covered by trees (38%) and water (28%) within 3 km, water (34%) and trees (32%) within 16 km, and grassland (31%), trees (30%) and water (23%) within 80 km.

3 km
422 m
16 km
1,443 m
80 km
2,279 m
treesgrasslandartificial surfacesbare terrainsnow and icewater
Nearby: Río Grande 120 km · Punta Arenas 250 km · Río Gallegos 360 km · Puerto Natales 441 km · El Calafate 564 km · El Chalten 684 km · Stanley 776 km · Puerto Deseado 803 km

Argentina travel facts

Travel advisory
Level 1
Exercise Normal Precautions
Power plugs
Type C / I
220 V · 50 Hz
Prices
≈ 46% of US
price level, 2025
GDP per capita
$14,898
2025
Happiness
6.4 / 10
World Happiness, 2025
Homicide rate
4.5
per 100k, 2023
Road deaths
14.1
per 100k/yr, 2019
Income group
Upper middle
World Bank
English
High
EF EPI 575
Religion
Roman Catholic 63%none 19%Evangelical 15%Jehovah's Witness and Church of Jesus Christ 1%

Sources: World Bank, US State Department, World Happiness Report, WHO/UNICEF, EF EPI, CIA World Factbook.

Data sources

Temperature, precipitation, cloud, humidity, wind and solar figures are a 1991–2020 climatology for Ushuaia (-54.8108°, -68.3159°, elevation 6 m), computed from hourly ERA5 reanalysis — contains modified Copernicus Climate Change Service information. Sun figures are astronomical calculations, not observations. City data © GeoNames, CC BY 4.0. Map outlines from Natural Earth (public domain); interactive map © Google. Sea temperatures are the NOAA OISST v2.1 1991–2020 monthly climatology (public domain), sampled at the nearest ocean point. UV index is derived from CAMS (Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service) clear-sky UV data — contains modified Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service information. Topography is sampled from the Copernicus DEM GLO-90 elevation model (© ESA/Airbus) and ESA WorldCover 2021 land cover (CC BY 4.0).