Santiago
Santiago is the capital and largest city of Chile, in the Santiago Basin between the Andes to the east and the Chilean Coastal Range to the west. It concentrates over a third of the national population and around 45% of Chile's GDP. The city lies between 500 and 650 meters above sea level. Pedro de Valdivia founded the colonial city on 12 February 1541.
Typical weather
1981–presentCity Rhythm
measuredOpening hours, by kind of place
median across mapped venuesVital absurdities
measured · the Anti-AwardsSame time system
by rhythmWhat to do each season
2dry-summer
warm, dry and sunny; openmeteo mean 14.0-21.5 °C (Jan warmest 21.5; up to 35 °C on the hottest days); essentially rainless Dec-Mar (<0.4 mm/day); an anticyclonic dominance for 7-8 months; the most sunshine in the atlas (Jan 31.5 W/m² radiation)
- the dry sunny season — the Andes are clearest; the wine harvest (March); the outdoor/pool season
- the driest summer of any city in the atlas; nearly zero rainfall for 4-5 months
wet-winter
cool, wetter and polluted; openmeteo mean 7.7-11.5 °C (Jul coolest 7.7; Wikipedia maxima ~14 °C, lows near 0 °C); ~80% of the annual ~281 mm falls May-Sep (Jun wettest 2.3 mm/day); cold mornings; basin thermal inversions trap pollution
- the cool wet winter — the basin's worst air quality (thermal inversions trap particulates against the Andes); the Andean snowline descends
- ENSO variability: El Niño years wetter, La Niña years drier
What it is known for
Important moments in a year
1541 Founding
- Pedro de Valdivia founded Santiago del Nuevo Extremo, laying out a grid plan around the Plaza de Armas
On the record
source-trackedSantiago has a cool semi-arid climate (BSk) with Mediterranean (Csb) patterns: warm dry summers (October to March) with temperatures reaching up to 35 °C; winters (April to September) are cool with typical daily maximum temperatures of 14 °C, and low temperatures near 0 °C.
About 80% of [the ~281 mm of annual precipitation] occurs during the winter months (May to September). [Summer Dec-Mar receives <4 mm on average — caused by] an anticyclonic dominance continued for about seven or eight months.
Santiago's rainfall is highly variable and heavily influenced by the El Niño Southern Oscillation cycle, with rainy years coinciding with El Niño events and dry years with La Niña events.
Santiago is the industrial and financial center of Chile, and generates 45% of the country's GDP.
The city is now home to … the tallest building in Latin America, the Gran Torre Santiago.
Santiago is an economically divided city (Gini coefficient of 0.47). The western half of the city is, on average, much poorer than the eastern communes.
Santiago Metro has seven operating lines, extending over 149 km (93 mi) and connecting 143 stations. The system carries around 2,400,000 passengers per day.
By 2025, Santiago had the largest cycling networks in Latin America.
Santiago is located in the Chilean Central Valley within the Santiago Basin, between the Andes to the east and the Chilean Coastal Range to the west.
Pedro de Valdivia founded the colonial city of Santiago del Nuevo Extremo on 12 February 1541.
The method behind this atlas — 196 pp. Not published yet.