URUGUAY CLIMATE

Uruguay is located in a transition zone between a continental  and maritime rainfall regimes. So that the annual cycle of rainfall is flat in the country, rainfall occurs in all of the months. In the western part of the country, rainfall occurs mostly during summer due to moisture advection from the amazon by northeasterly winds. In the winter rainfall occurs due to intrusion of cold fronts from the Atlantic, the coastal areas are more exposed to these storms and therefore at the coast Towards the east of the country the continental summer rainfall regime stars to prevail and maximum precipitation is found at the equinoxes. There are two rainfall regimes in Uruguay, although overall the distribution is rather flat with precipitation occur in all of the months.

COAST

At the coast ,as the rest of the country, rainfall is almost evenly distributed year around, which can be seen from the figure that shows days with rainfall per months. All the month have an average of 10 days where rain falls. The rains in winter are produced by cold fronts reaching  Uruguay and especially the coast from the Atlantic. The large rainfall amounts found in January and February are produced by humidity advection from continent interior by northeasterly 
winds.

WEST

The western part of the country is in the transition zone from the summer rain regime to the maritime winter rainfall regime. Rain falls all year long, every month has an average of more than 10 days with rain.  Amount are maximum in late summer (Feb-Mar) and autumn (Oct-Nov), with minima in winter (Jun-Jul). Temperatures show an annual cycle characteristics of subtropical latitudes with minimum temperatures during winter. During winter days with temperatures below zero can be expected. The maximum temperatures in summer reach 30, in average some 4 degrees higher than at the coast.
 
 
 

The country is under the influence of the south Atlantic Anticyclone all year long. During winter the anticyclone moves northwards and strong northeasterlies are found in Uruguay. During summer, the anticyclone is in its southernmost position and winds in Uruguay are weaker and mostly easterly.
 
 
Region Rainy season Dry season 
Coast Rain all year round, wettest period  winter.  No dry season, less rainfall in April
Western Uruguay max in April and October less rainfall in Jun-Jul and Dec-Jan