Climate and average weather in Antofagasta

In Antofagasta, the weather is mild, fairly dry, and mostly clear and remarkably steady, with daytime highs holding near mild levels all year. The wettest stretch peaks around June.

Best: early January to late April

Over the course of the year, the temperature in Antofagasta typically varies from 13°C to 20°C, and is rarely below 12°C or above 21°C. February is the hottest month of the year, while August is the coldest.

Based on the travel score, the best times of year to visit Antofagasta for warm-weather activities are from early January to late April and mid November to late December.

Hottest
Feb
20°
Coldest
Aug
13°
Wettest
Jun
13 mm
Driest
Jan
2 mm
Rain / yr
72 mm
22 wet days
Daylight
10.5–13.5 h
shortest–longest
Elevation
276 m
23.7°S
Clearest
Feb
32% cloud

Antofagasta is city in Antofagasta Region, Chile.

Air quality
Moderate
PM2.5 12 µg/m³ · 2019
Density
7,147/km²
people per km²
Founded
1868

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

Antofagasta 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 late April.

Temperature through the year

Average highAverage lowShaded bands: 10–90% of days

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

Temperatures in Antofagasta stay fairly even through the year, without a distinct hot or cool season. The warmest month is February, with an average high of 20°C and low of 18°C; the coolest is August, with an average low of 13°C and high of 15°C.

Days typically run about 2°C warmer than nights year-round.

10°15°20°25°JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Avg high (°C)Avg low (°C)
Jan2018
Feb2018
Mar1917
Apr1816
May1715
Jun1614
Jul1513
Aug1513
Sep1513
Oct1613
Nov1715
Dec1816

Average hourly temperature in Antofagasta

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 February afternoons, near 20°C, and coldest before dawn in August, near 13°C.

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

Antofagasta weather by month

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

MonthHigh / Low (°C)Rainfall (mm)Wet daysDaylight (hours)Travel score
Jan20° / 18°20.113.38.1
Feb20° / 18°20.512.88.2
Mar19° / 17°40.612.28.0
Apr18° / 16°92.811.57.1
May17° / 15°103.910.96.3
Jun16° / 14°13410.65.9
Jul15° / 13°103.810.75.6
Aug15° / 13°82.611.25.6
Sep15° / 13°51.811.95.8
Oct16° / 13°50.912.66.1
Nov17° / 15°40.713.16.8
Dec18° / 16°20.113.47.6

Chance of rain

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

Antofagasta gets about 72 mm of precipitation a year. On a typical day the chance of rain is mostly dry, but that rises and falls sharply with the seasons.

The wetter season lasts 5.3 months, from around Apr 11 to Sep 17, peaking in July at about 15% chance on a given day. The drier stretch runs the rest of the year, bottoming out around Jan 1.

June is the wettest month by volume, with 13 mm over about 4 wet days; January is the driest, with 2 mm.

0%10%20%30%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecdrierwetterdriermostly drysome rainJul 1 · 15%Jan 1 · 0%
Rain on a day (%)Rain days
Jan10
Feb11
Mar21
Apr93
May134
Jun134
Jul124
Aug83
Sep62
Oct31
Nov21
Dec10

Monthly rainfall

Over a full year, Antofagasta collects about 72 mm of rain across 22 wet days — roughly 6 mm in an average month.

It doesn’t fall evenly. June is the wettest month with 13 mm, while January is the driest at just 2 mm. The three wettest months alone bring about 46% of the year’s total.

025JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec224910131085542
Rainfall (mm)Rain days
Jan20
Feb21
Mar41
Apr93
May104
Jun134
Jul104
Aug83
Sep52
Oct51
Nov41
Dec20

Clouds and sunshine

ClearMostly clearPartly cloudyMostly cloudyOvercast

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

In Antofagasta, 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 January 12 and lasts for 3.0 months, ending around April 13. The clearest month is March, when the sky is clear, mostly clear, or partly cloudy 89% of the time on average.

The cloudier part of the year begins around April 14 and lasts for 4.4 months, ending around August 25. The cloudiest month is May, when it is overcast or mostly cloudy 29% 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%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecFeb 27 · 90%May 12 · 70%clearmostly clearpartly cloudymostly cloudyovercastclearercloudier
Clearer (%)Cloudier (%)
Jan8218
Feb8515
Mar8911
Apr7921
May7129
Jun7129
Jul7525
Aug7822
Sep8416
Oct8515
Nov8515
Dec8317

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 16, brings about 13 h 30 min of light; the shortest, around June 17, only 10 h 30 min — a swing of roughly 3 hours.

12 AM4 AM8 AM12 PM4 PM8 PM12 AMJanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Daylight (h)Sunrise (AM)Sunset (PM)
Jan13.37:128:30
Feb12.87:328:21
Mar12.27:467:56
Apr11.57:587:25
May10.98:127:04
Jun10.68:256:58
Jul10.78:277:07
Aug11.28:107:21
Sep11.97:407:32
Oct12.67:107:43
Nov13.16:528:02
Dec13.46:548:21

Sunny days

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

Antofagasta averages about 18 sunny days a month — counting the days the sky stays clear or mostly clear — with a clear seasonal swing between 14 and 23 days.

The sunnier stretch runs 5.2 months, from around Oct 26 to Mar 31. The sunniest month is February, with roughly 22 sunny days (bright).

The greyest month is April, down near 16 sunny days — about 27% fewer than the February peak.

051015202530JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecsunniergreyersunniergloomymixedbrightbrilliantFeb 2623 daysApr 2914 days
Sunny daysSky
Jan20Bright
Feb20Bright
Mar21Bright
Apr16Bright
May16Bright
Jun16Bright
Jul18Bright
Aug18Bright
Sep18Bright
Oct18Bright
Nov20Bright
Dec20Bright

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 Antofagasta, how humid it feels changes dramatically over the year.

The more humid part of the year lasts 4.4 months, from around December 12 to April 24. The muggiest month is February, when the air feels humid, muggy or worse about 99% of the time.

The most comfortable stretch runs from around April 25 to December 11, and July is the most comfortable month — the air is dry or comfortable 100% of the time.

0%10%20%30%40%50%60%70%80%90%100%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecJul 21 · 100%Feb 12 · 1%muggycomfortablehumiddryhumidcomfortable
Dry (%)Comfortable (%)Humid (%)Muggy (%)
Jan06868
Feb018316
Mar05905
Apr047530
May485110
Jun257230
Jul633600
Aug801900
Sep663400
Oct366400
Nov49330
Dec054460

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 Antofagasta is typically calm, near 11 km/h, and varies little with the seasons.

The windier part of the year lasts 6.3 months, from around Sep 13 to Mar 24. The windiest month is November, averaging about 13 km/h (light breeze).

The calmer part of the year runs from around Mar 25 to Sep 12, with June the calmest month at about 9 km/h.

05101520JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecwindiercalmerwindiercalmlight breezeNov 29 · 13 km/hJun 10 · 9 km/h
Wind speed (km/h)Feels
Jan13light breeze
Feb12light breeze
Mar12calm
Apr11calm
May10calm
Jun9calm
Jul10calm
Aug10calm
Sep11calm
Oct13light breeze
Nov13light breeze
Dec13light breeze

Best time to visit Antofagasta

TravelBeach/poolTemperatureCloudsPrecipitation

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

Around mid April, Antofagasta is still near the tail of its best-weather window — great conditions with the peak-season crowds already thinning.

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 Antofagasta for general outdoor tourist activities is from mid November to late April, with a peak score in the last week of February.

0246810JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecbest timebest timetravel scoretemperaturecloudsprecipitationFeb 22 · 8.3

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
Jan8.1ideal
Feb8.2ideal
Mar8.0ideal
Apr7.1good
May6.3good
Jun5.9good
Jul5.6good
Aug5.6good
Sep5.8good
Oct6.1good
Nov6.8good
Dec7.6ideal

The beach/pool score favors clear, rainless days with daytime highs between 24°C and 34°C. Based on this score, the best time of year to visit Antofagasta for hot-weather activities is from early January to mid March, with a peak score in the second week of February.

024681012JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecbest timebeach/pool scoretemperaturecloudsprecipitationFeb 12 · 4.4

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 Antofagasta, 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.

Antofagasta packs about the same all year — highs hold near 20°C. Across the year the things worth having are sun protection and a warm layer.

Light clothing
Warm layer
Winter coat
Rain gear
Sun protection
Windbreaker

In February, Antofagasta sees daytime highs around 20°C and nights near 18°C. Pack sun protection.

Sea temperature near Antofagasta

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

The sea offshore is warmest in January at about 20°C and coldest in August near 15°C.

It's comfortable for a long swim from Jan 16 to Feb 17 — about 1.1 months when the water holds above 20°C.

14°16°18°20°22°JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecbracingcoolrefreshing
Sea temperature (°C)Comfort
Jan20Refreshing
Feb20Refreshing
Mar19Cool
Apr18Cool
May17Cool
Jun16Cool
Jul15Cool
Aug15Cool
Sep15Cool
Oct16Cool
Nov18Cool
Dec19Cool

UV index (midday) in Antofagasta 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 Antofagasta peaks around February 10 at about 15 (extreme) — sunscreen, a hat and midday shade are essential. It bottoms out near July 10 at about 5 (high).

The index reaches 3 or more — the level where the WHO recommends sun protection — every month of the year.

025710JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecExtremeVery highHighVery highExtremeFeb 10UV 15Jul 10UV 5
UV index (midday)Level
Jan14Extreme
Feb15Extreme
Mar12Extreme
Apr9Very high
May7High
Jun6High
Jul5High
Aug8Very high
Sep10Very high
Oct12Extreme
Nov13Extreme
Dec14Extreme

Average hourly UV index in Antofagasta

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 February the burn window is concentrated in the middle of the day: about 8.5 hours a day reach index 3 (protection recommended), and 7 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)
Jan97
Feb8.57
Mar86
Apr74
May5.52
Jun50
Jul50
Aug6.53.5
Sep75
Oct86
Nov8.56.5
Dec97

Air quality in Antofagasta by month

GoodModeratePoorUnhealthyVery unhealthy

Average fine-particle pollution (PM2.5) through the year — so you can see which months the air is worst, not just the yearly average.

Air quality in Antofagasta is worst in July — around 19 µg/m³ PM2.5 (moderate), about 2.5× the cleanest month (March, 7 µg/m³).

Seasonal pattern from CAMS reanalysis, scaled to Antofagasta's WHO annual average of 12 µg/m³.

0102030JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecGoodModerateGoodJul 1719 µg/m³Mar 127 µg/m³
PM2.5 (µg/m³)Level
Jan8Good
Feb8Good
Mar7Good
Apr10Good
May16Moderate
Jun17Moderate
Jul19Moderate
Aug17Moderate
Sep14Moderate
Oct11Good
Nov10Good
Dec8Good
Almanac & agriculture

Growing season

Chance of a frost-free dayFrost-free year round

Antofagasta is frost-free year round — even the coldest nights rarely reach freezing, so there is no start or end to the growing season.

0%25%50%75%100%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecfrost-free year round
Frost-free chance (%)Frost nights
Jan1000
Feb1000
Mar1000
Apr1000
May1000
Jun1000
Jul1000
Aug1000
Sep1000
Oct1000
Nov1000
Dec1000

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. Antofagasta banks about 2,206 degree days a year, and the running total — which growers use to time plantings and predict maturity — climbs fastest around February.

05001,0001,5002,000JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Growing degree days (°C·days)
Jan271
Feb256
Mar257
Apr206
May179
Jun145
Jul128
Aug120
Sep119
Oct138
Nov166
Dec220

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.

Antofagasta receives about 6.3 kWh/m² a day of solar energy on average — intense — with a clear seasonal swing between 3.9 and 8.3 kWh/m².

The brighter stretch of the year lasts 6.3 months, from around Sep 15 to Mar 24. The brightest month is December, averaging about 8.3 kWh/m² (intense).

The dimmest month is June, down near 4.0 kWh/m² — roughly 52% less than the December peak.

0123456789JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecbrighterdimmerbrighterdimmoderatebrightintenseDec 98.3 kWhJun 243.9 kWh
Solar energy (kWh/m²)Level
Jan8.0Intense
Feb7.6Intense
Mar6.6Intense
Apr5.3Bright
May4.4Bright
Jun4.0Moderate
Jul4.2Bright
Aug5.1Bright
Sep6.3Intense
Oct7.4Intense
Nov8.1Intense
Dec8.3Intense

Where is Antofagasta?

Antofagasta sits at 23.7°S, 70.4°W, 276 m above sea level, in Chile. The nearest listed city is Tocopilla, 175 km away.

Alto HospicioCalderaPozo AlmonteIquiqueCopiapó

Topography around Antofagasta

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

Within 3 km, the terrain around Antofagasta has significant variations in elevation — a maximum elevation change of 487 m around an average of 103 m above sea level; within 16 km, large variations in elevation — a maximum elevation change of 1,138 m; within 80 km, extreme variations in elevation — a maximum elevation change of 2,608 m.

The land around Antofagasta is covered by water (40%), artificial surfaces (30%) and bare terrain (30%) within 3 km, bare terrain (54%) and water (42%) within 16 km, and bare terrain (68%) and water (32%) within 80 km.

3 km
487 m
16 km
1,138 m
80 km
2,608 m
artificial surfacesbare terrainwater
Nearby: Tocopilla 175 km · Calama 201 km · San Pedro de Atacama 239 km · Alto Hospicio 377 km · Caldera 382 km · Pozo Almonte 383 km · Iquique 383 km · Copiapó 413 km

Chile travel facts

Travel advisory
Level 2
Exercise Increased Caution
Power plugs
Type C / F / L
220 V · 50 Hz
Prices
≈ 48% of US
price level, 2025
GDP per capita
$17,995
2025
Happiness
6.3 / 10
World Happiness, 2025
Safe drinking water
98%
of population, 2024
Homicide rate
6.3
per 100k, 2023
Road deaths
14.9
per 100k/yr, 2019
Income group
High
World Bank
English
Moderate
EF EPI 517
Religion
Catholic 57%none 26%Evangelical or Protestant 16%other Christians and traditions related to 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 Antofagasta (-23.6509°, -70.3975°, elevation 276 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. Monthly air-quality (PM2.5) seasonality is from the CAMS EAC4 reanalysis (Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service), scaled to the WHO annual mean where available. Topography is sampled from the Copernicus DEM GLO-90 elevation model (© ESA/Airbus) and ESA WorldCover 2021 land cover (CC BY 4.0).