Climate and average weather in Piriapolis

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

Best: early January to mid May

Over the course of the year, the temperature in Piriapolis typically varies from 8°C to 27°C, and is rarely below 3°C or above 31°C. January is the hottest month of the year, while July is the coldest.

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

Hottest
Jan
27°
Coldest
Jul
Wettest
Apr
99 mm
Driest
Jan
70 mm
Rain / yr
1064 mm
102 wet days
Daylight
9.7–14.3 h
shortest–longest
Elevation
0 m
34.9°S
Clearest
Jan
46% cloud

Piriapolis is city of Uruguay.

Density
319/km²
people per km²
Founded
1893

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

Piriapolis 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 May.

Temperature through the year

Average highAverage lowShaded bands: 10–90% of days

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

The hot season lasts 3.8 months, from November 28 to March 23, with daily high temperatures above 23°C. The hottest month of the year in Piriapolis is January, with an average high of 27°C and low of 18°C.

The cool season lasts 3.7 months, from May 26 to September 14, with daily high temperatures below 17°C. The coldest month of the year in Piriapolis is July, with an average low of 8°C and high of 14°C.

Days typically run about 7°C warmer than nights year-round.

10°20°30°JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Avg high (°C)Avg low (°C)
Jan2718
Feb2618
Mar2417
Apr2114
May1811
Jun159
Jul148
Aug169
Sep1710
Oct2012
Nov2214
Dec2516

Average hourly temperature in Piriapolis

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 27°C, and coldest before dawn in July, near C.

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

Piriapolis 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
Jan27° / 18°707.614.17.2
Feb26° / 18°978.913.36.9
Mar24° / 17°95912.37.2
Apr21° / 14°998.611.16.8
May18° / 11°767.910.26.0
Jun15° / 898.39.74.7
Jul14° / 908.79.94.3
Aug16° / 938.610.75.1
Sep17° / 10°918.311.85.6
Oct20° / 12°999.412.96.3
Nov22° / 14°857.813.87.2
Dec25° / 16°808.514.37.3

Chance of rain

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

Piriapolis gets about 1064 mm of precipitation a year. On a typical day the chance of rain is some rain, and that barely changes with the seasons — rain is spread fairly evenly through the year.

April is the wettest month by volume, with 99 mm over about 9 wet days; January is the driest, with 70 mm.

0%10%20%30%40%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecmostly drysome rainoften wetFeb 8 · 32%Jan 16 · 24%
Rain on a day (%)Rain days
Jan258
Feb319
Mar299
Apr289
May258
Jun288
Jul299
Aug289
Sep288
Oct299
Nov278
Dec279

Monthly rainfall

Over a full year, Piriapolis collects about 1064 mm of rain across 102 wet days — roughly 89 mm in an average month.

It doesn’t fall evenly. April is the wettest month with 99 mm, while January is the driest at just 70 mm. The three wettest months alone bring about 28% of the year’s total.

0255075100125JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec709795997689909391998580
Rainfall (mm)Rain days
Jan708
Feb979
Mar959
Apr999
May768
Jun898
Jul909
Aug939
Sep918
Oct999
Nov858
Dec809

Clouds and sunshine

ClearMostly clearPartly cloudyMostly cloudyOvercast

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

In Piriapolis, 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 November 4 and lasts for 5.1 months, ending around April 8. The clearest month is January, when the sky is clear, mostly clear, or partly cloudy 63% of the time on average.

The cloudier part of the year begins around April 9 and lasts for 6.9 months, ending around November 3. The cloudiest month is July, when it is overcast or mostly cloudy 58% 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 16 · 63%Jul 28 · 40%clearmostly clearpartly cloudymostly cloudyovercastclearercloudierclearer
Clearer (%)Cloudier (%)
Jan6337
Feb5842
Mar5842
Apr5149
May4555
Jun4555
Jul4258
Aug4456
Sep4555
Oct4753
Nov5842
Dec6139

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 8, 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)
Jan14.16:478:53
Feb13.37:178:35
Mar12.37:437:59
Apr11.18:087:15
May10.28:326:43
Jun9.78:516:32
Jul9.98:516:43
Aug10.78:257:06
Sep11.87:427:29
Oct12.96:597:53
Nov13.86:318:22
Dec14.36:278:47

Sunny days

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

Piriapolis averages about 11 sunny days a month — counting the days the sky stays clear or mostly clear — with a clear seasonal swing between 7 and 14 days.

The sunnier stretch runs 5.7 months, from around Oct 16 to Apr 5. The sunniest month is January, with roughly 13 sunny days (mixed).

The greyest month is May, down near 9 sunny days — about 36% fewer than the January peak.

05101520JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecsunniergreyersunniergloomymixedbrightJan 214 daysMay 267 days
Sunny daysSky
Jan14Mixed
Feb11Mixed
Mar12Mixed
Apr10Mixed
May9Mixed
Jun9Mixed
Jul9Mixed
Aug10Mixed
Sep9Mixed
Oct11Mixed
Nov12Mixed
Dec14Mixed

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

The more humid part of the year lasts 5.0 months, from around November 17 to April 16. The muggiest month is February, when the air feels humid, muggy or worse about 70% of the time.

The most comfortable stretch runs from around April 17 to November 16, and July is the most comfortable month — the air is dry or comfortable 99% of the time.

0%10%20%30%40%50%60%70%80%90%100%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecJul 21 · 99%Feb 19 · 29%oppressivemuggycomfortablehumiddryhumidcomfortablehumid
Dry (%)Comfortable (%)Humid (%)Muggy (%)Oppressive (%)
Jan132329296
Feb121829338
Mar202329243
Apr44272190
May7021910
Jun8710300
Jul8911100
Aug8512300
Sep8215300
Oct62271010
Nov44302240
Dec272530172

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 Piriapolis is steady company: average speeds sit near 15 km/hlight breeze — in every month of the year, with no meaningful windy or calm season.

05101520JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDeccalmlight breezeSep 1 · 16 km/hMay 9 · 14 km/h
Wind speed (km/h)Feels
Jan15light breeze
Feb15light breeze
Mar15light breeze
Apr15light breeze
May14light breeze
Jun15light breeze
Jul16light breeze
Aug16light breeze
Sep16light breeze
Oct16light breeze
Nov16light breeze
Dec16light breeze

Best time to visit Piriapolis

TravelBeach/poolTemperatureCloudsPrecipitation

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

Around early May, Piriapolis 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 Piriapolis for general outdoor tourist activities is from early October to mid May, with a peak score in the first week of December.

0246810JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecbest timebest timetravel scoretemperaturecloudsprecipitationDec 3 · 7.6

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
Jan7.1good
Feb6.9good
Mar7.2good
Apr6.8good
May6.0good
Jun4.7fair
Jul4.3fair
Aug5.1fair
Sep5.6good
Oct6.3good
Nov7.2good
Dec7.3good

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 Piriapolis for hot-weather activities is from late November to late March, with a peak score in the third week of January.

024681012JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecbest timebest timebeach/pool scoretemperaturecloudsprecipitationJan 17 · 7.1

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 Piriapolis, 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 27°C), the essentials are light clothes and sun protection. In the cold season around July (highs near 14°C), pack a warm layer and rain gear.

Light clothing
Warm layer
Winter coat
Rain gear
Sun protection
Windbreaker

In January, Piriapolis sees daytime highs around 27°C and nights near 18°C. Pack sun protection. Worth having: light clothes. About 8 days see rain.

Sea temperature near Piriapolis

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 23°C and coldest in July near 11°C.

It's comfortable for a long swim from Dec 9 to Apr 10 — about 4 months when the water holds above 20°C.

10°15°20°25°JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecbracingcoolrefreshingwarmcomfortable to swim
Sea temperature (°C)Comfort
Jan22Refreshing
Feb23Refreshing
Mar22Refreshing
Apr20Cool
May17Cool
Jun13Bracing
Jul11Bracing
Aug12Bracing
Sep13Bracing
Oct16Cool
Nov18Cool
Dec21Refreshing

UV index (midday) in Piriapolis 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 Piriapolis peaks around January 16 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 16UV 12Jun 18UV 2
UV index (midday)Level
Jan12Extreme
Feb12Extreme
Mar10Very high
Apr6High
May3Moderate
Jun2Moderate
Jul3Moderate
Aug4Moderate
Sep6High
Oct8Very high
Nov11Extreme
Dec12Extreme

Average hourly UV index in Piriapolis

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
Apr5.50
May2.50
Jun00
Jul00
Aug40
Sep5.50
Oct74
Nov8.56
Dec96.5
Almanac & agriculture

Growing season

Chance of a frost-free dayFrost-free year round

Piriapolis 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
Jun990
Jul980
Aug990
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. Piriapolis banks about 2,408 degree days a year, and the running total — which growers use to time plantings and predict maturity — climbs fastest around January.

01,0002,000JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Growing degree days (°C·days)
Jan380
Feb339
Mar326
Apr228
May138
Jun53
Jul28
Aug67
Sep97
Oct175
Nov244
Dec333

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.

Piriapolis receives about 4.6 kWh/m² a day of solar energy on average — bright — with a clear seasonal swing between 2.1 and 7.3 kWh/m².

The brighter stretch of the year lasts 5.8 months, from around Sep 26 to Mar 21. The brightest month is December, averaging about 7.3 kWh/m² (intense).

The dimmest month is June, down near 2.2 kWh/m² — roughly 70% less than the December peak.

012345678JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecbrighterdimmerbrighterdimmoderatebrightintenseDec 127.3 kWhJun 242.1 kWh
Solar energy (kWh/m²)Level
Jan7.1Intense
Feb6.0Bright
Mar4.8Bright
Apr3.5Moderate
May2.5Moderate
Jun2.1Moderate
Jul2.3Moderate
Aug3.1Moderate
Sep4.2Bright
Oct5.3Bright
Nov6.7Intense
Dec7.3Intense

Where is Piriapolis?

Piriapolis sits at 34.9°S, 55.3°W, 0 m above sea level, in Uruguay. The nearest listed city is Maldonado, 30 km away.

MaldonadoPunta del EsteSan CarlosMinasPandoBarros BlancosPaso de CarrascoMontevideo

Topography around Piriapolis

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

Within 3 km, the terrain around Piriapolis has only modest variations in elevation — a maximum elevation change of 249 m around an average of 32 m above sea level; within 16 km, significant variations in elevation — a maximum elevation change of 501 m; within 80 km, significant variations in elevation — a maximum elevation change of 494 m.

The land around Piriapolis is covered by trees (31%), water (28%) and grassland (21%) within 3 km, water (55%) and grassland (24%) within 16 km, and grassland (42%) and water (38%) within 80 km.

3 km
249 m
16 km
501 m
80 km
494 m
treesgrasslandcroplandartificial surfacesbare terrainwaterwetland
Nearby: Maldonado 30 km · Punta del Este 32 km · San Carlos 34 km · Minas 54 km · Pando 65 km · Barros Blancos 68 km · Paso de Carrasco 71 km · Montevideo 83 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 Piriapolis (-34.8629°, -55.2747°, elevation 0 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).