Climate of Chile

The climate of Chile comprises a wide range of weather conditions across a large geographic scale, extending across 38 degrees in latitude, making generalisations difficult. According to the Köppen system, Chile within its borders hosts at least seven major climatic subtypes, ranging from desert in the north, to alpine tundra and glaciers in the east and southeast, humid subtropical in Easter Island, Oceanic in the south and mediterranean climate in central Chile. There are four seasons in most of the country: summer (December to February), autumn (March to May), winter (June to August), and spring (September to November).

On a synoptic scale the most important factors that controls the climate in Chile are the Pacific Anticyclone, the southern circumpolar low pressure area, the cold Humboldt current, the Chilean Coast Range and the Andes Mountains. Despite Chile's narrowness, some interior regions may experience wide temperature oscillations and cities such as San Pedro de Atacama, may even experience a continental climate. In the extreme northeast and southeast the border of Chile extends beyond the Andes into the Altiplano and the Patagonian plains, giving these regions climate patterns similar to those seen in Bolivia and Argentina respectively.