Winter Weather in San Pedro de Atacama Chile

Daily high temperatures are around 69°F, rarely falling below 61°F or exceeding 77°F. The lowest daily average high temperature is 67°F on July 11.

Daily low temperatures are around 36°F, rarely falling below 28°F or exceeding 44°F. The lowest daily average low temperature is 34°F on July 12.

For reference, on December 28, the hottest day of the year, temperatures in San Pedro de Atacama typically range from 47°F to 80°F, while on July 12, the coldest day of the year, they range from 34°F to 67°F.

The figure below shows you a compact characterization of the hourly average winter temperatures. The horizontal axis is the day, the vertical axis is the hour of the day, and the color is the average temperature for that hour and day.

Chalchihuites, Mexico (4,006 miles away) is the far-away foreign place with temperatures most similar to San Pedro de Atacama (view comparison).

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The winter in San Pedro de Atacama experiences gradually decreasing cloud cover, with the percentage of time that the sky is overcast or mostly cloudy decreasing from 15% to 9%.

The clearest day of the winter is August 30, with clear, mostly clear, or partly cloudy conditions 91% of the time.

For reference, on January 7, the cloudiest day of the year, the chance of overcast or mostly cloudy conditions is 33%, while on September 10, the clearest day of the year, the chance of clear, mostly clear, or partly cloudy skies is 91%.

Over the course of the winter in San Pedro de Atacama, the length of the day is increasing. From the start to the end of the season, the length of the day increases by 49 minutes, implying an average daily increase of 33 seconds, and weekly increase of 3 minutes, 48 seconds.

The shortest day of the winter is June 22, with 10 hours, 44 minutes of daylight and the longest day is August 31, with 11 hours, 38 minutes of daylight.

The latest sunrise of the winter in San Pedro de Atacama is 7:14 AM on July 4 and the earliest sunrise is 30 minutes earlier at 6:44 AM on August 31.

The earliest sunset is 5:54 PM on June 6 and the latest sunset is 28 minutes later at 6:22 PM on August 31.

Daylight saving time is observed in San Pedro de Atacama during 2026, but it neither starts nor ends during the winter, so the entire season is in standard time.

For reference, on December 21, the longest day of the year, the Sun rises at 6:44 AM and sets 13 hours, 33 minutes later, at 8:17 PM, while on June 21, the shortest day of the year, it rises at 7:12 AM and sets 10 hours, 44 minutes later, at 5:56 PM.

The figure below presents a compact representation of the sun's elevation (the angle of the sun above the horizon) and azimuth (its compass bearing) for every hour of every day in the reporting period. The horizontal axis is the day of the year and the vertical axis is the hour of the day. For a given day and hour of that day, the background color indicates the azimuth of the sun at that moment. The black isolines are contours of constant solar elevation.

The figure below presents a compact representation of key lunar data for the winter of 2026. The horizontal axis is the day, the vertical axis is the hour of the day, and the colored areas indicate when the moon is above the horizon. The vertical gray bars (new Moons) and blue bars (full Moons) indicate key Moon phases. The label associated with each bar indicates the date and time that the phase is obtained, and the companion time labels indicate the rise and set times of the Moon for the nearest time interval in which the moon is above the horizon.

We base the humidity comfort level on the dew point, as it determines whether perspiration will evaporate from the skin, thereby cooling the body. Lower dew points feel drier and higher dew points feel more humid. Unlike temperature, which typically varies significantly between night and day, dew point tends to change more slowly, so while the temperature may drop at night, a muggy day is typically followed by a muggy night.

The chance that a given day will be muggy in San Pedro de Atacama is essentially constant during the winter, remaining around 0% throughout.

This section discusses the wide-area hourly average wind vector (speed and direction) at 10 meters above the ground. The wind experienced at any given location is highly dependent on local topography and other factors, and instantaneous wind speed and direction vary more widely than hourly averages.

The average hourly wind speed in San Pedro de Atacama is gradually increasing during the winter, increasing from 8.1 miles per hour to 8.9 miles per hour over the course of the season.

For reference, on December 27, the windiest day of the year, the daily average wind speed is 9.1 miles per hour, while on April 25, the calmest day of the year, the daily average wind speed is 7.8 miles per hour.

The wind direction in San Pedro de Atacama during the winter is predominantly out of the east from June 1 to June 10, the north from June 10 to August 2, and the west from August 2 to August 31.

Definitions of the growing season vary throughout the world, but for the purposes of this report, we define it as the longest continuous period of non-freezing temperatures (≥ 32°F) in the year (the calendar year in the Northern Hemisphere, or from July 1 until June 30 in the Southern Hemisphere).

The growing season in San Pedro de Atacama typically lasts for 8.4 months (254 days), from around September 11 to around May 24, rarely starting before August 7 or after October 28, and rarely ending before April 27 or after June 16.

The winter in San Pedro de Atacama is more likely than not fully outside of the growing season, with the chance that a given day is in the growing season reaching a low of 1% on July 5.

Growing degree days are a measure of yearly heat accumulation used to predict plant and animal development, and defined as the integral of warmth above a base temperature, discarding any excess above a maximum temperature. In this report, we use a base of 50°F and a cap of 86°F.

The average accumulated growing degree days in San Pedro de Atacama are very rapidly decreasing during the winter, decreasing by 3,232°F, from 3,622°F to 390°F, over the course of the season.

This section discusses the total daily incident shortwave solar energy reaching the surface of the ground over a wide area, taking full account of seasonal variations in the length of the day, the elevation of the Sun above the horizon, and absorption by clouds and other atmospheric constituents. Shortwave radiation includes visible light and ultraviolet radiation.

The average daily incident shortwave solar energy in San Pedro de Atacama is rapidly increasing during the winter, rising by 1.7 kWh, from 5.3 kWh to 7.0 kWh, over the course of the season.

The lowest average daily incident shortwave solar energy during the winter is 5.1 kWh on June 23.

For the purposes of this report, the geographical coordinates of San Pedro de Atacama are -22.911 deg latitude, -68.201 deg longitude, and 8,018 ft elevation.

The topography within 2 miles of San Pedro de Atacama contains significant variations in elevation, with a maximum elevation change of 650 feet and an average elevation above sea level of 8,026 feet. Within 10 miles contains significant variations in elevation (2,283 feet). Within 50 miles contains large variations in elevation (12,320 feet).

The area within 2 miles of San Pedro de Atacama is covered by bare soil (79%), within 10 miles by bare soil (91%), and within 50 miles by bare soil (69%) and sparse vegetation (13%).