Climate and average weather in Santa Lucía

In Santa Lucía, the summers are hot, fairly dry, and mostly clear and the winters are cool and partly cloudy.

Best: early January to late May

Over the course of the year, the temperature in Santa Lucía typically varies from 7°C to 29°C, and is rarely below 1°C or above 33°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 Santa Lucía for warm-weather activities are from early January to late May and mid August to late December.

Hottest
Jan
29°
Coldest
Jul
Wettest
Oct
112 mm
Driest
Jun
77 mm
Rain / yr
1083 mm
95 wet days
Daylight
9.7–14.3 h
shortest–longest
Elevation
24 m
34.5°S
Clearest
Jan
45% cloud

Santa Lucía is city in the Canelones Department of southern Uruguay.

Density
429/km²
people per km²
Founded
1782

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

Santa Lucía 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 May.

Temperature through the year

Average highAverage lowShaded bands: 10–90% of days

Daily average highs and lows in Santa Lucía, 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 25 to March 20, with daily high temperatures above 25°C. The hottest month of the year in Santa Lucía is January, with an average high of 29°C and low of 18°C.

The cool season lasts 3.0 months, from May 25 to August 22, with daily high temperatures below 18°C. The coldest month of the year in Santa Lucía is July, with an average low of 7°C and high of 15°C.

Days typically run about 10°C warmer than nights, with the widest day–night swing (around 11°C) in December.

10°20°30°JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Avg high (°C)Avg low (°C)
Jan2918
Feb2818
Mar2616
Apr2213
May1910
Jun168
Jul157
Aug178
Sep199
Oct2112
Nov2414
Dec2816

Average hourly temperature in Santa Lucía

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 29°C, and coldest before dawn in July, near C.

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

Santa Lucía 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
Jan29° / 18°817.8146.0
Feb28° / 18°1008.313.36.4
Mar26° / 16°988.212.37.1
Apr22° / 13°99811.27.1
May19° / 10°816.910.26.4
Jun16° / 777.39.75.1
Jul15° / 787.39.94.8
Aug17° / 897.610.75.8
Sep19° / 837.911.86.3
Oct21° / 12°1129.712.96.6
Nov24° / 14°1028.313.87.2
Dec28° / 16°84814.36.7

Chance of rain

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

Santa Lucía gets about 1083 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 1.9 months, from around Sep 27 to Nov 24, peaking in October at about 32% chance on a given day. The drier stretch runs the rest of the year, bottoming out around Jun 1.

October is the wettest month by volume, with 112 mm over about 10 wet days; June is the driest, with 77 mm.

0%10%20%30%40%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecdrierwetterdriermostly drysome rainoften wetOct 23 · 32%Jun 1 · 21%
Rain on a day (%)Rain days
Jan268
Feb298
Mar278
Apr268
May227
Jun247
Jul247
Aug258
Sep268
Oct3010
Nov288
Dec268

Monthly rainfall

Over a full year, Santa Lucía collects about 1083 mm of rain across 95 wet days — roughly 90 mm in an average month.

It doesn’t fall evenly. October is the wettest month with 112 mm, while June is the driest at just 77 mm. The three wettest months alone bring about 29% of the year’s total.

0255075100125150JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec811009899817778898311210284
Rainfall (mm)Rain days
Jan818
Feb1008
Mar988
Apr998
May817
Jun777
Jul787
Aug898
Sep838
Oct11210
Nov1028
Dec848

Clouds and sunshine

ClearMostly clearPartly cloudyMostly cloudyOvercast

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

In Santa Lucía, 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 1 and lasts for 5.2 months, ending around April 6. 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 7 and lasts for 6.8 months, ending around October 31. The cloudiest month is May, when it is overcast or mostly cloudy 56% 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 · 66%May 23 · 40%clearmostly clearpartly cloudymostly cloudyovercastclearercloudierclearer
Clearer (%)Cloudier (%)
Jan6337
Feb5941
Mar5743
Apr5149
May4456
Jun4555
Jul4555
Aug4753
Sep4753
Oct4852
Nov5743
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 11, 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)
Jan14.06:538:57
Feb13.37:228:39
Mar12.37:478:03
Apr11.28:127:20
May10.28:366:48
Jun9.78:556:37
Jul9.98:546:48
Aug10.78:297:11
Sep11.87:467:34
Oct12.97:047:57
Nov13.86:368:26
Dec14.36:338:51

Sunny days

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

Santa Lucía averages about 11 sunny days a month — counting the days the sky stays clear or mostly clear — with a clear seasonal swing between 8 and 15 days.

The sunnier stretch runs 5.4 months, from around Oct 25 to Apr 6. The sunniest month is December, with roughly 14 sunny days (mixed).

The greyest month is May, down near 9 sunny days — about 35% fewer than the December peak.

05101520JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecsunniergreyersunniergloomymixedbrightDec 1715 daysMay 268 days
Sunny daysSky
Jan14Mixed
Feb12Mixed
Mar13Mixed
Apr11Mixed
May10Mixed
Jun9Mixed
Jul10Mixed
Aug10Mixed
Sep10Mixed
Oct11Mixed
Nov12Mixed
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 Santa Lucía, how humid it feels changes dramatically over the year.

The more humid part of the year lasts 4.9 months, from around November 19 to April 16. The muggiest month is February, when the air feels humid, muggy or worse about 65% of the time.

The most comfortable stretch runs from around April 17 to November 18, and July is the most comfortable month — the air is dry or comfortable 98% of the time.

0%10%20%30%40%50%60%70%80%90%100%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecJul 16 · 98%Feb 16 · 35%muggycomfortablehumiddryhumidcomfortablehumid
Dry (%)Comfortable (%)Humid (%)Muggy (%)Oppressive (%)
Jan182427265
Feb142129288
Mar232330204
Apr47262080
May7019920
Jun8510400
Jul8810200
Aug8411400
Sep8113510
Oct62241120
Nov47282050
Dec312627142

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 Santa Lucía is steady company: average speeds sit near 13 km/hlight breeze — in every month of the year, with no meaningful windy or calm season.

05101520JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDeccalmlight breezeSep 4 · 14 km/hMay 5 · 12 km/h
Wind speed (km/h)Feels
Jan13light breeze
Feb13light breeze
Mar12light breeze
Apr13light breeze
May12light breeze
Jun13light breeze
Jul14light breeze
Aug14light breeze
Sep14light breeze
Oct14light breeze
Nov14light breeze
Dec14light breeze

Best time to visit Santa Lucía

TravelBeach/poolTemperatureCloudsPrecipitation

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

Around mid January, Santa Lucía 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 Santa Lucía for general outdoor tourist activities is from mid August to late May, with a peak score in the last week of March.

0246810JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecbest timebest timetravel scoretemperaturecloudsprecipitationMar 31 · 7.3

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
Jan6.0good
Feb6.4good
Mar7.1good
Apr7.1good
May6.4good
Jun5.2fair
Jul4.8fair
Aug5.7good
Sep6.3good
Oct6.7good
Nov7.2good
Dec6.7good

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 Santa Lucía for hot-weather activities is from mid November to early April, with a peak score in the third week of January.

024681012JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecbest timebest timebeach/pool scoretemperaturecloudsprecipitationJan 17 · 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 Santa Lucía, 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 29°C), the essentials are light clothes and sun protection. In the cold season around July (highs near 15°C), pack a warm layer.

Light clothing
Warm layer
Winter coat
Rain gear
Sun protection
Windbreaker

In January, Santa Lucía sees daytime highs around 29°C and nights near 18°C. Pack light clothes and sun protection. About 8 days see rain.

Sea temperature near Santa Lucía

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 47 km away) is warmest in January at about 24°C and coldest in July near 11°C.

It's comfortable for a long swim from Nov 23 to Apr 9 — about 4.5 months when the water holds above 20°C.

10°15°20°25°JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecbracingcoolrefreshingwarmcomfortable to swim
Sea temperature (°C)Comfort
Jan24Refreshing
Feb24Refreshing
Mar23Refreshing
Apr19Cool
May16Cool
Jun13Bracing
Jul11Bracing
Aug12Bracing
Sep14Bracing
Oct17Cool
Nov19Cool
Dec22Refreshing

UV index (midday) in Santa Lucía 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 Santa Lucía peaks around January 16 at about 13 (extreme) — sunscreen, a hat and midday shade are essential. It bottoms out near June 18 at about 3 (moderate).

The index reaches 3 or more — the level where the WHO recommends sun protection — in 11 months of the year.

025710JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecExtremeVery highModerateHighVery highExtremeJan 16UV 13Jun 18UV 3
UV index (midday)Level
Jan13Extreme
Feb11Extreme
Mar10Very high
Apr6High
May3Moderate
Jun3Moderate
Jul3Moderate
Aug4Moderate
Sep6High
Oct8Very high
Nov11Extreme
Dec11Extreme

Average hourly UV index in Santa Lucía

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 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
Feb8.56
Mar7.55
Apr62
May2.50
Jun00
Jul10
Aug40
Sep5.50
Oct74
Nov8.56
Dec96.5
Almanac & agriculture

Growing season

Chance of a frost-free day

Santa Lucía is mild enough that a frost-free day stays more likely than not even in midwinter.

0%25%50%75%100%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Frost-free chance (%)Frost nights
Jan1000
Feb1000
Mar1000
Apr1000
May990
Jun960
Jul940
Aug970
Sep990
Oct1000
Nov1000
Dec1000

Growing degree days

Degree days (base 10°C)

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. Santa Lucía banks about 2,592 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)
Jan416
Feb361
Mar342
Apr232
May137
Jun49
Jul22
Aug73
Sep115
Oct200
Nov274
Dec370

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.

Santa Lucía 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 7.4 kWh/m² (intense).

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

0123456789JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecbrighterdimmerbrighterdimmoderatebrightintenseDec 127.5 kWhJun 212.2 kWh
Solar energy (kWh/m²)Level
Jan7.3Intense
Feb6.2Intense
Mar5.0Bright
Apr3.6Moderate
May2.6Moderate
Jun2.2Moderate
Jul2.4Moderate
Aug3.3Moderate
Sep4.4Bright
Oct5.5Bright
Nov6.8Intense
Dec7.5Intense

Where is Santa Lucía?

Santa Lucía sits at 34.5°S, 56.4°W, 24 m above sea level, in Uruguay. The nearest listed city is Canelones, 13 km away.

San José de MayoLas PiedrasDelta del TigreLa PazFloridaBarros Blancos

Topography around Santa Lucía

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

Within 3 km, the terrain around Santa Lucía has only modest variations in elevation — a maximum elevation change of 38 m around an average of 18 m above sea level; within 16 km, only modest variations in elevation — a maximum elevation change of 63 m; within 80 km, only modest variations in elevation — a maximum elevation change of 202 m.

The land around Santa Lucía is covered by grassland (41%) and trees (34%) within 3 km, cropland (42%) and grassland (38%) within 16 km, and grassland (40%), cropland (27%) and water (25%) within 80 km.

3 km
38 m
16 km
63 m
80 km
202 m
treesgrasslandcroplandartificial surfaceswaterwetland
Nearby: Canelones 13 km · Progreso 29 km · San José de Mayo 32 km · Las Piedras 35 km · Delta del Tigre 35 km · La Paz 37 km · Florida 42 km · Barros Blancos 49 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 Santa Lucía (-34.4533°, -56.3906°, elevation 24 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).