Climate and average weather in Santiago

In Santiago, the summers are hot, showery, and mostly clear and the winters are mild and partly cloudy.

Best: all year

Over the course of the year, the temperature in Santiago typically varies from 7°C to 29°C, and is rarely below 1°C or above 32°C. August is the hottest month of the year, while January is the coldest.

Based on the travel score, Santiago has no single best season — it scores well the whole year round, so any month is a good time to visit for warm-weather activities.

Hottest
Aug
29°
Coldest
Jan
Wettest
Sep
191 mm
Driest
Dec
47 mm
Rain / yr
1256 mm
141 wet days
Daylight
10.4–13.6 h
shortest–longest
Elevation
486 m
25.4°N
Clearest
Jun
43% cloud

Santiago is municipal seat of Santiago, State of Nuevo León, Mexico.

Founded
1648

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

Santiago 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 holds near its peak the whole year round.

Temperature through the year

Average highAverage lowShaded bands: 10–90% of days

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

The hot season lasts 4.4 months, from May 5 to September 15, with daily high temperatures above 26°C. The hottest month of the year in Santiago is August, with an average high of 29°C and low of 18°C.

The cool season lasts 2.5 months, from November 28 to February 12, with daily high temperatures below 19°C. The coldest month of the year in Santiago is January, with an average low of 7°C and high of 17°C.

Days typically run about 11°C warmer than nights year-round.

10°20°30°JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Avg high (°C)Avg low (°C)
Jan177
Feb208
Mar2211
Apr2514
May2716
Jun2818
Jul2918
Aug2918
Sep2617
Oct2414
Nov2010
Dec187

Average hourly temperature in Santiago

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 August afternoons, near 29°C, and coldest before dawn in January, near C.

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

Santiago 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
Jan17° / 609.310.65.9
Feb20° / 8410.111.16.3
Mar22° / 11°13114.211.86.2
Apr25° / 14°17215.612.66.1
May27° / 16°1581613.25.9
Jun28° / 18°871113.66.0
Jul29° / 18°8810.413.45.8
Aug29° / 18°6810.412.95.9
Sep26° / 17°19116.212.25.8
Oct24° / 14°10711.111.47.0
Nov20° / 10°669.210.86.7
Dec18° / 477.110.46.3

Chance of rain

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

Santiago gets about 1256 mm of precipitation a year. On a typical day the chance of rain is often wet, but that rises and falls sharply with the seasons.

The wetter season lasts 1.5 months, from around Aug 22 to Oct 7, peaking in September at about 57% chance on a given day. The drier stretch runs the rest of the year, bottoming out around Dec 5.

September is the wettest month by volume, with 191 mm over about 16 wet days; December is the driest, with 47 mm.

0%10%20%30%40%50%60%70%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecdrierwetterdriermostly drysome rainoften wetvery wetSep 11 · 57%Dec 5 · 22%
Rain on a day (%)Rain days
Jan299
Feb3610
Mar4614
Apr5216
May5016
Jun3811
Jul3310
Aug3510
Sep5216
Oct3711
Nov309
Dec247

Monthly rainfall

Over a full year, Santiago collects about 1256 mm of rain across 141 wet days — roughly 105 mm in an average month.

It doesn’t fall evenly. September is the wettest month with 191 mm, while December is the driest at just 47 mm. The three wettest months alone bring about 41% of the year’s total.

050100150200JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec60841311721588788681911076647
Rainfall (mm)Rain days
Jan609
Feb8410
Mar13114
Apr17216
May15816
Jun8711
Jul8810
Aug6810
Sep19116
Oct10711
Nov669
Dec477

Clouds and sunshine

ClearMostly clearPartly cloudyMostly cloudyOvercast

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

In Santiago, 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 July 8 and lasts for 1.6 months, ending around August 26. The clearest month is August, when the sky is clear, mostly clear, or partly cloudy 68% of the time on average.

The cloudier part of the year begins around August 27 and lasts for 1.1 months, ending around September 28. The cloudiest month is September, when it is overcast or mostly cloudy 46% 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%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecAug 7 · 72%Sep 13 · 50%clearmostly clearpartly cloudymostly cloudyovercastcloudierclearercloudier
Clearer (%)Cloudier (%)
Jan5446
Feb5941
Mar6139
Apr5941
May6436
Jun6832
Jul6634
Aug6832
Sep5446
Oct6436
Nov6238
Dec5842

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 June 11, brings about 13 h 36 min of light; the shortest, around January 1, only 10 h 24 min — a swing of roughly 3 h 12 min.

12 AM4 AM8 AM12 PM4 PM8 PM12 AMJanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Daylight (h)Sunrise (AM)Sunset (PM)
Jan10.67:336:07
Feb11.17:226:29
Mar11.86:566:45
Apr12.66:236:59
May13.26:007:14
Jun13.65:547:28
Jul13.46:037:30
Aug12.96:187:12
Sep12.26:316:39
Oct11.46:446:07
Nov10.87:045:48
Dec10.47:245:49

Sunny days

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

Santiago averages about 14 sunny days a month — counting the days the sky stays clear or mostly clear — with a clear seasonal swing between 10 and 17 days.

The sunnier stretch runs 2.8 months, from around May 31 to Aug 23. The sunniest month is August, with roughly 15 sunny days (bright).

The greyest month is September, down near 11 sunny days — about 25% fewer than the August peak.

05101520JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecgreyersunniergreyergloomymixedbrightAug 417 daysSep 1010 days
Sunny daysSky
Jan13Mixed
Feb12Mixed
Mar14Mixed
Apr12Mixed
May12Mixed
Jun15Bright
Jul15Bright
Aug16Bright
Sep11Mixed
Oct15Mixed
Nov14Mixed
Dec15Mixed

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

The more humid part of the year lasts 5.8 months, from around April 26 to October 19. The muggiest month is June, when the air feels humid, muggy or worse about 89% of the time.

The most comfortable stretch runs from around October 20 to April 25, and January 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%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecJan 31 · 100%Jun 21 · 10%muggycomfortablehumiddrycomfortablehumidcomfortable
Dry (%)Comfortable (%)Humid (%)Muggy (%)
Jan98200
Feb891100
Mar652870
Apr3633273
May7215121
Jun1105137
Jul1175923
Aug1166022
Sep7154731
Oct2728369
Nov662590
Dec93700

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.

Wind in Santiago is steady company: average speeds sit near 5 km/hcalm — in every month of the year, with no meaningful windy or calm season.

0510JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDeccalmJul 16 · 6 km/hDec 4 · 5 km/h
Wind speed (km/h)Feels
Jan5calm
Feb5calm
Mar6calm
Apr6calm
May5calm
Jun6calm
Jul6calm
Aug6calm
Sep5calm
Oct5calm
Nov5calm
Dec5calm

Best time to visit Santiago

TravelBeach/poolTemperatureCloudsPrecipitation

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

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 Santiago for general outdoor tourist activities is from mid September to early September, with a peak score in the third week of October.

0246810JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecbest timebest timetravel scoretemperaturecloudsprecipitationOct 20 · 7.0

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
Jan5.9good
Feb6.2good
Mar6.2good
Apr6.1good
May5.9good
Jun5.9good
Jul5.9good
Aug5.8good
Sep5.9good
Oct6.9good
Nov6.7good
Dec6.3good

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 Santiago for hot-weather activities is from late May to late August, with a peak score in the first week of August.

024681012JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecbest timebeach/pool scoretemperaturecloudsprecipitationAug 3 · 7.6

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 Santiago, 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 August (highs near 29°C), the essentials are light clothes, rain gear and sun protection. In the cold season around January (highs near 17°C), pack a warm layer and rain gear.

Light clothing
Warm layer
Winter coat
Rain gear
Sun protection
Windbreaker

In August, Santiago sees daytime highs around 29°C and nights near 18°C. Pack light clothes and sun protection. Worth having: rain gear. About 10 days see rain.

UV index (midday) in Santiago 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 Santiago peaks around June 21 at about 11 (extreme) — sunscreen, a hat and midday shade are essential. It bottoms out near December 19 at about 5 (moderate).

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

025710JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecHighVery highExtremeVery highHighJun 21UV 11Dec 19UV 5
UV index (midday)Level
Jan5High
Feb7Very high
Mar9Very high
Apr11Extreme
May11Extreme
Jun12Extreme
Jul11Extreme
Aug12Extreme
Sep9Very high
Oct8Very high
Nov6High
Dec5Moderate

Average hourly UV index in Santiago

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 June the burn window is concentrated in the middle of the day: about 8.5 hours a day reach index 3 (protection recommended), and 6.5 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)
Jan50
Feb63
Mar74.5
Apr85.5
May86
Jun8.56.5
Jul8.56.5
Aug8.56
Sep74.5
Oct6.53.5
Nov5.50
Dec4.50

Air quality in Santiago 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 Santiago is worst in December — around 24 µg/m³ PM2.5 (moderate), and holds fairly steady the rest of the year.

Modeled monthly averages (CAMS reanalysis, 2015–2024).

0102030JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecModerateDec 1724 µg/m³Aug 1518 µg/m³
PM2.5 (µg/m³)Level
Jan23Moderate
Feb21Moderate
Mar24Moderate
Apr21Moderate
May22Moderate
Jun20Moderate
Jul19Moderate
Aug18Moderate
Sep20Moderate
Oct20Moderate
Nov22Moderate
Dec24Moderate
Almanac & agriculture

Growing season

Chance of a frost-free dayFrost-free year round

Santiago 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
Jan970
Feb990
Mar1000
Apr1000
May1000
Jun1000
Jul1000
Aug1000
Sep1000
Oct1000
Nov1000
Dec980

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. Santiago banks about 3,041 degree days a year, and the running total — which growers use to time plantings and predict maturity — climbs fastest around August.

01,0002,0003,000JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Growing degree days (°C·days)
Jan58
Feb107
Mar193
Apr272
May357
Jun388
Jul410
Aug411
Sep346
Oct272
Nov153
Dec75

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.

Santiago receives about 5.4 kWh/m² a day of solar energy on average — bright — with a clear seasonal swing between 3.7 and 6.8 kWh/m².

The brighter stretch of the year lasts 6.1 months, from around Mar 7 to Sep 8. The brightest month is June, averaging about 6.7 kWh/m² (intense).

The dimmest month is December, down near 3.7 kWh/m² — roughly 44% less than the June peak.

012345678JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecdimmerbrighterdimmerdimmoderatebrightintenseJun 66.8 kWhDec 183.7 kWh
Solar energy (kWh/m²)Level
Jan3.9Moderate
Feb4.8Bright
Mar5.7Bright
Apr6.4Intense
May6.6Intense
Jun6.8Intense
Jul6.6Intense
Aug6.5Intense
Sep5.3Bright
Oct4.8Bright
Nov4.0Bright
Dec3.7Moderate

Where is Santiago?

Santiago sits at 25.4°N, 100.2°W, 486 m above sea level, in Mexico. The nearest listed city is Ciudad de Allende, 21 km away.

Topography around Santiago

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

Within 3 km, the terrain around Santiago has significant variations in elevation — a maximum elevation change of 452 m around an average of 513 m above sea level; within 16 km, extreme variations in elevation — a maximum elevation change of 2,598 m; within 80 km, extreme variations in elevation — a maximum elevation change of 3,555 m.

The land around Santiago is covered by trees (68%) within 3 km, trees (81%) within 16 km, and shrubs (47%) and trees (36%) within 80 km.

3 km
452 m
16 km
2,598 m
80 km
3,555 m
treesshrubsgrasslandcroplandartificial surfacesbare terrainwater
Nearby: Ciudad de Allende 21 km · Jardines de la Silla 23 km · Cadereyta Jiménez 24 km · Cadereyta 24 km · Ciudad Benito Juárez 25 km · Guadalupe 30 km · Monterrey 33 km · San Pedro Garza García 36 km

Mexico travel facts

Travel advisory
Level 2
Exercise Increased Caution
Power plugs
Type A / B
120 / 127 V · 60 Hz
Prices
≈ 54% of US
price level, 2025
GDP per capita
$13,889
2025
Happiness
7.0 / 10
World Happiness, 2025
Safe drinking water
43%
of population, 2024
Homicide rate
24.9
per 100k, 2023
Road deaths
12.8
per 100k/yr, 2019
Income group
Upper middle
World Bank
English
Very low
EF EPI 440
Religion
Catholic 78%no religion 11%other Evangelical Churches 8%Jehovah Witness 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 Santiago (25.426°, -100.154°, elevation 486 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. 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).