Weather in Ushuaia in January

A hard month. January asks something of you. Go in knowing what. You should expect rain on 23 days of the month, which is more days wet than dry.

January ranks 3 of 12 in Ushuaia. Only February scores clearly higher, and the difference is small enough to be settled by price rather than weather. That is not a contradiction: January is among the best months Ushuaia has, and it is still hard going. This is a city with no easy season rather than a city you have caught at a bad time.

Rain on 23 of the month's 31 days, 1 of them heavy. At that frequency a wet-weather backup is not a contingency, it is the itinerary — book the indoor things first and treat the clear days as the bonus. Layers, and a genuinely waterproof outer — at 12.2 °C the difference between a good day and a miserable one is entirely down to what you are wearing.

What the averages hide

The averages here are honest — no hidden extremes worth planning around. Across the twenty years measured, the hottest January day reached 24.3 °C and the coldest night fell to 0.9 °C.

January is statistically steady but not small: the year-to-year variation is modest in relative terms, yet the wettest January on record still delivered 130 mm against 46 mm in the driest. In a month this wet, even a tame spread is a lot of rain in absolute terms — the 77 mm average is a reasonable planning figure, not a promise.

Wind sits around 18.2 km/h — a steady breeze rather than a nuisance, and welcome on the warmer days, and humidity runs at 79%, which at 12.2 °C means damp rather than muggy — the kind of cold that gets into a coat and stays there.

How January sits in the year

Temperatures hold steady either side: 11.4 °C in December, 12.2 here, 12.3 in February. Nothing about the timing within the month matters much. Rain is the thing that moves: February brings 5 days less of it, so pushing the dates later buys drier weather.

Daylight in January

January is at or near the longest days of Ushuaia's year: 16.7 hours of daylight, losing 1.4 hours across the month. Evenings are the real gain — dinner outdoors still happens in full light.

An inland climate

Despite being inland, the year stays fairly even: 13.2 °C between the year's warmest afternoons and coldest nights.

How busy it gets

Peak season. Expect the highest prices of the year and to be booking well ahead. If the dates are flexible, November is the trade worth considering — 8 points weaker on weather, and materially quieter.

Crowd levels are estimated from climate desirability and school-holiday calendars, not from visitor numbers.

January in Ushuaia versus nearby

If Ushuaia is one option among several, the nearby comparison is worth making. Puerto Montt is a better bet in January — 7.6 °C warmer, 13 days less rain. Mar del Plata is a better bet in January — 12.3 °C warmer, 11 days less rain.

So: January is effectively as good as it gets here — 5 points behind February, which is inside the margin where the weather stops being the deciding factor and price starts being it.

Every month in Ushuaia

See all twelve months in Ushuaia, or where else to go in January.