Climatology
This page presents Argentina's climate context for the current climatology, 1991-2020, derived from observed, historical data. Information should be used to build a strong understanding of current climate conditions in order to appreciate future climate scenarios and projected change. You can visualize data for the current climatology through spatial variation, the seasonal cycle, or as a time series. Analysis is available for both annual and seasonal data. Data presentation defaults to national-scale aggregation, however sub-national data aggregations can be accessed by clicking within a country, on a sub-national unit. Other historical climatologies can be selected from the Time Period dropdown list.
Observed, historical data is produced by the Climatic Research Unit (CRU) of University of East Anglia. Data is presented at a 0.5º x 0.5º (50km x 50km) resolution.
The majority of Argentina’s climate is subtropical The Patagonian provinces: Neuquén, Río Negro, Chubut, Santa Cruz and Tierra del Fuego, experience low rainfall, except in the strip adjacent to the Andes Mountains as well as in the southern end of the provinces of Santa Cruz and Tierra del Fuego. The contiguous strip of the Andes Mountains has abundant forests, glaciers and permanent snows, North of 40ºS, the climate is subtropical with hot summers. At the eastern end of this region there is abundant rainfall, which decreases towards the west and desert areas with very scarce vegetation, where cities and agriculture exist in the oases of the rivers fed by rainfall in the Cordillera; including provinces of San Juan, La Rioja, Catamarca and part of Mendoza. In the east, covering part of the provinces of Entre Rios, Buenos Aires, Santa Fe, Córdoba, La Pampa and San Luis, due to the humid conditions, rain-fed agriculture and cattle raising is extensive. The region between the humid east and the west arid is semi-arid, whose vegetation, originally from the mountains, has been modified by cattle breeding. In this region, the precipitation occurs almost entirely during the summer period. In the north of the country, in the province of Misiones and on the eastern slopes of the Tucumán, Salta and Jujuy, the high temperatures and abundant rainfall results in tropical forests. In Misiones, part of the original forest was replaced by commercial forestry, primarily pine. Commercial forestation of pines and eucalyptus also extends to the provinces of Corrientes and Entre Rios. The provinces of Chaco and Formosa, east of Salta and north of Santiago del Estero are in the region of the Chaco characterized by arboreal vegetation in the form of a park, where it is also develops extensive cattle raising and, increasingly, dry farming.
Argentina's climate features and seasonality are influenced by the presence of Los Andes Mountain extending along the west of the country as well as the El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) and the Indian Dipole. Sea surface temperature anomalies also influence Argentina’s weather. Additionally, warm (cold) phase of El Niño and a positive (negative) phase of Indian Dipole are all related to increased (decreased) spring and autumn precipitation in northeastern Argentina and Central Andes and the signal decreases in summer and winter.