Climate and average weather in Montevideo

In Montevideo, the summers are warm, fairly dry, and mostly clear and the winters are cool, breezy, and partly cloudy.

Best: early November to late April

Over the course of the year, the temperature in Montevideo typically varies from 10°C to 24°C, and is rarely below 7°C or above 26°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 Montevideo for warm-weather activities is from early November to late April.

Hottest
Jan
24°
Coldest
Jul
10°
Wettest
Oct
111 mm
Driest
Jan
67 mm
Rain / yr
1108 mm
95 wet days
Daylight
9.7–14.3 h
shortest–longest
Elevation
34 m
34.9°S
Clearest
Jan
39% cloud

Montevideo is capital and largest city of Uruguay.

Air quality
Moderate
PM2.5 12 µg/m³ · 2018
Density
1,741/km²
people per km²
Founded
1726

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

Montevideo 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 November to late April.

Temperature through the year

Average highAverage lowShaded bands: 10–90% of days

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

The hot season lasts 4.1 months, from November 30 to April 2, with daily high temperatures above 21°C. The hottest month of the year in Montevideo is January, with an average high of 24°C and low of 21°C.

The cool season lasts 3.3 months, from June 5 to September 13, with daily high temperatures below 14°C. The coldest month of the year in Montevideo is July, with an average low of 10°C and high of 12°C.

Days typically run about 3°C warmer than nights year-round.

10°15°20°25°30°JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Avg high (°C)Avg low (°C)
Jan2421
Feb2421
Mar2220
Apr1917
May1614
Jun1411
Jul1210
Aug1311
Sep1512
Oct1714
Nov2017
Dec2219

Average hourly temperature in Montevideo

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 24°C, and coldest before dawn in July, near 10°C.

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

Montevideo 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
Jan24° / 21°675.814.18.0
Feb24° / 21°917.413.37.5
Mar22° / 20°977.812.37.3
Apr19° / 17°1078.411.16.5
May16° / 14°877.910.25.4
Jun14° / 11°908.69.74.0
Jul12° / 10°968.79.93.4
Aug13° / 11°978.410.73.9
Sep15° / 12°928.311.84.6
Oct17° / 14°1118.812.95.7
Nov20° / 17°1017.713.86.8
Dec22° / 19°736.814.37.5

Chance of rain

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

Montevideo gets about 1108 mm of precipitation a year. On a typical day the chance of rain is some rain, but that rises and falls sharply with the seasons.

The wetter season lasts 3.9 months, from around May 21 to Sep 17, peaking in June at about 30% chance on a given day. The drier stretch runs the rest of the year, bottoming out around Jan 15.

October is the wettest month by volume, with 111 mm over about 9 wet days; January is the driest, with 67 mm.

0%10%20%30%40%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecdrierwetterdriermostly drysome rainoften wetJun 17 · 30%Jan 15 · 18%
Rain on a day (%)Rain days
Jan196
Feb267
Mar268
Apr278
May258
Jun299
Jul289
Aug288
Sep278
Oct289
Nov268
Dec227

Monthly rainfall

Over a full year, Montevideo collects about 1108 mm of rain across 95 wet days — roughly 92 mm in an average month.

It doesn’t fall evenly. October is the wettest month with 111 mm, while January is the driest at just 67 mm. The three wettest months alone bring about 29% of the year’s total.

0255075100125150JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec679197107879096979211110173
Rainfall (mm)Rain days
Jan676
Feb917
Mar978
Apr1078
May878
Jun909
Jul969
Aug978
Sep928
Oct1119
Nov1018
Dec737

Clouds and sunshine

ClearMostly clearPartly cloudyMostly cloudyOvercast

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

In Montevideo, 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 October 26 and lasts for 5.3 months, ending around April 5. The clearest month is January, when the sky is clear, mostly clear, or partly cloudy 70% of the time on average.

The cloudier part of the year begins around April 6 and lasts for 6.7 months, ending around October 25. The cloudiest month is July, when it is overcast or mostly cloudy 54% 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%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecJan 17 · 72%Jul 26 · 43%clearmostly clearpartly cloudymostly cloudyovercastclearercloudierclearer
Clearer (%)Cloudier (%)
Jan7030
Feb6733
Mar6436
Apr5545
May4852
Jun4753
Jul4654
Aug4852
Sep5050
Oct5347
Nov6337
Dec6733

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 January 1, brings about 14 h 18 min of light; the shortest, around June 7, only 9 h 42 min — a swing of roughly 4 h 36 min.

12 AM4 AM8 AM12 PM4 PM8 PM12 AMJanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Daylight (h)Sunrise (AM)Sunset (PM)
Jan14.16:518:57
Feb13.37:208:39
Mar12.37:468:03
Apr11.18:117:19
May10.28:366:46
Jun9.78:556:35
Jul9.98:546:46
Aug10.78:287:09
Sep11.87:467:33
Oct12.97:037:57
Nov13.86:348:26
Dec14.36:318:51

Sunny days

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

Montevideo averages about 13 sunny days a month — counting the days the sky stays clear or mostly clear — with a clear seasonal swing between 9 and 18 days.

The sunnier stretch runs 5.2 months, from around Oct 27 to Apr 3. The sunniest month is January, with roughly 17 sunny days (bright).

The greyest month is May, down near 10 sunny days — about 40% fewer than the January peak.

05101520JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecsunniergreyersunniergloomymixedbrightJan 1418 daysMay 259 days
Sunny daysSky
Jan17Bright
Feb14Bright
Mar15Bright
Apr12Mixed
May10Mixed
Jun9Mixed
Jul10Mixed
Aug11Mixed
Sep11Mixed
Oct12Mixed
Nov14Mixed
Dec17Bright

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

The more humid part of the year lasts 5.2 months, from around November 13 to April 18. The muggiest month is February, when the air feels humid, muggy or worse about 77% of the time.

The most comfortable stretch runs from around April 19 to November 12, 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 4 · 100%Feb 3 · 22%oppressivemuggyhumidcomfortabledryhumidcomfortablehumid
Dry (%)Comfortable (%)Humid (%)Muggy (%)Oppressive (%)
Jan816273712
Feb815263614
Mar162029306
Apr35302790
May64251000
Jun8810200
Jul955000
Aug927100
Sep8613200
Oct57331010
Nov33352750
Dec182233243

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 Montevideo is steady company: average speeds sit near 22 km/hbreezy — in every month of the year, with no meaningful windy or calm season.

051015202530JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDeccalmlight breezebreezywindyNov 7 · 23 km/hMay 7 · 21 km/h
Wind speed (km/h)Feels
Jan22breezy
Feb22breezy
Mar22breezy
Apr22breezy
May21breezy
Jun22breezy
Jul23breezy
Aug22breezy
Sep23breezy
Oct23breezy
Nov23breezy
Dec22breezy

Best time to visit Montevideo

TravelBeach/poolTemperatureCloudsPrecipitation

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

Around mid April, Montevideo 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 Montevideo for general outdoor tourist activities is from early November to late April, with a peak score in the third week of January.

0246810JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecbest timebest timetravel scoretemperaturecloudsprecipitationJan 17 · 8.1

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
Jan8.0ideal
Feb7.5ideal
Mar7.3good
Apr6.5good
May5.4fair
Jun4.0fair
Jul3.4poor
Aug3.9fair
Sep4.6fair
Oct5.7good
Nov6.8good
Dec7.5ideal

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 Montevideo for hot-weather activities is from mid December to mid March, with a peak score in the third week of January.

024681012JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecbest timebeach/pool scoretemperaturecloudsprecipitationJan 20 · 6.7

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 Montevideo, 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 24°C), the essentials are light clothes, sun protection and a windbreaker. In the cold season around July (highs near 12°C), pack a warm layer, rain gear and a windbreaker.

Light clothing
Warm layer
Winter coat
Rain gear
Sun protection
Windbreaker

In January, Montevideo sees daytime highs around 24°C and nights near 21°C. Pack sun protection. Worth having: light clothes and a windbreaker. About 6 days see rain.

Sea temperature near Montevideo

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 February at about 24°C and coldest in July near 11°C.

It's comfortable for a long swim from Nov 27 to Apr 9 — about 4.4 months when the water holds above 20°C.

10°15°20°25°JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecbracingcoolrefreshingwarmcomfortable to swim
Sea temperature (°C)Comfort
Jan23Refreshing
Feb24Refreshing
Mar22Refreshing
Apr19Cool
May16Cool
Jun13Bracing
Jul11Bracing
Aug12Bracing
Sep13Bracing
Oct16Cool
Nov19Cool
Dec22Refreshing

UV index (midday) in Montevideo 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 Montevideo peaks around January 17 at about 12 (extreme) — sunscreen, a hat and midday shade are essential. It bottoms out near June 18 at about 2 (moderate).

The index reaches 3 or more — the level where the WHO recommends sun protection — in 10 months of the year.

025710JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecExtremeVery highModerateHighVery highExtremeJan 17UV 12Jun 18UV 2
UV index (midday)Level
Jan12Extreme
Feb11Extreme
Mar10Very high
Apr6High
May3Moderate
Jun2Moderate
Jul3Moderate
Aug4Moderate
Sep6High
Oct8Very high
Nov11Extreme
Dec11Extreme

Average hourly UV index in Montevideo

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 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)
Jan96.5
Feb8.56
Mar7.55
Apr5.51
May2.50
Jun00
Jul00
Aug3.50
Sep5.50
Oct74
Nov8.56
Dec96.5

Air quality in Montevideo 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 Montevideo is worst in August — around 16 µg/m³ PM2.5 (moderate), about 1.6× the cleanest month (February, 10 µg/m³).

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

01020JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecGoodModerateGoodAug 1416 µg/m³Feb 2210 µg/m³
PM2.5 (µg/m³)Level
Jan12Good
Feb10Good
Mar10Good
Apr11Good
May12Moderate
Jun13Moderate
Jul15Moderate
Aug16Moderate
Sep14Moderate
Oct12Good
Nov10Good
Dec10Good
Almanac & agriculture

Growing season

Chance of a frost-free dayFrost-free year round

Montevideo 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. Montevideo banks about 2,441 degree days a year, and the running total — which growers use to time plantings and predict maturity — climbs fastest around February.

01,0002,000JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Growing degree days (°C·days)
Jan375
Feb340
Mar338
Apr244
May156
Jun69
Jul27
Aug57
Sep93
Oct172
Nov242
Dec327

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.

Montevideo receives about 4.7 kWh/m² a day of solar energy on average — bright — with a clear seasonal swing between 2.2 and 7.5 kWh/m².

The brighter stretch of the year lasts 5.9 months, from around Sep 24 to Mar 21. The brightest month is December, averaging about 7.5 kWh/m² (intense).

The dimmest month is June, down near 2.2 kWh/m² — roughly 71% less than the December peak.

0123456789JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecbrighterdimmerbrighterdimmoderatebrightintenseDec 137.5 kWhJun 202.2 kWh
Solar energy (kWh/m²)Level
Jan7.4Intense
Feb6.3Intense
Mar5.0Bright
Apr3.6Moderate
May2.6Moderate
Jun2.2Moderate
Jul2.4Moderate
Aug3.2Moderate
Sep4.4Bright
Oct5.6Bright
Nov6.9Intense
Dec7.5Intense

Where is Montevideo?

Montevideo sits at 34.9°S, 56.2°W, 34 m above sea level, in Uruguay. The nearest listed city is Paso de Carrasco, 13 km away.

Canelones

What Montevideo looks like

Topography around Montevideo

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

Within 3 km, the terrain around Montevideo has only modest variations in elevation — a maximum elevation change of 56 m around an average of 16 m above sea level; within 16 km, only modest variations in elevation — a maximum elevation change of 130 m; within 80 km, significant variations in elevation — a maximum elevation change of 394 m.

The land around Montevideo is covered by artificial surfaces (55%) and water (38%) within 3 km, water (53%) and artificial surfaces (21%) within 16 km, and water (43%) and grassland (27%) within 80 km.

3 km
56 m
16 km
130 m
80 km
394 m
treesgrasslandcroplandartificial surfacesbare terrainwaterwetland
Nearby: Paso de Carrasco 13 km · La Paz 16 km · Las Piedras 19 km · Delta del Tigre 22 km · Barros Blancos 24 km · Progreso 26 km · Pando 29 km · Canelones 43 km

Uruguay travel facts

Travel advisory
Level 2
Exercise Increased Caution
Power plugs
Type C / F / I / L
230 V · 50 Hz
Prices
≈ 66% of US
price level, 2025
GDP per capita
$25,216
2025
Happiness
6.6 / 10
World Happiness, 2025
Homicide rate
11.2
per 100k, 2023
Road deaths
14.8
per 100k/yr, 2019
Income group
High
World Bank
English
Moderate
EF EPI 542
Religion
none 47%Roman Catholic 37%Protestant 15%atheist 10%

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 Montevideo (-34.9033°, -56.1882°, elevation 34 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).