Climate

Uruguay has a subtropical to temperate climate with very marked seasonal fluctuations. The
climate must be considered sub humid, because potential evapotranspiration in summer is greater
than precipitation, which causes water deficiencies in the soil. The annual potential evaporation
is of 1,200 mm in the North and 1,000 mm in the South, and is maximum in the months of
December and January and minimum in June.

Figure 4. Annual mean rainfall in Uruguay (Dirección Nacional de Meteorología del

Uruguay)
[Click to view full picture]

Although rainfall is distributed throughout the year, it is characterized by great variations

between years. The highest precipitation occurs, in general, in summer and autumn; in the first
season, precipitation is very irregular, having summers without precipitation and others with
more than 600 mm of rain; in the second season, precipitation has minor variability. Although in
winter precipitation has a somewhat smaller volume than that of other seasons there is no marked
rainy season. It is possible to emphasize the great irregularity of rainfall, as much as in regularity
as in intensity, which leads to droughts and floods that can happen in different seasons of the
year. This irregularity is the main cause of problems in forage production. Rainfall distribution is
shown in Figure 4.

Mean temperatures of the coldest month (July) are 10.8 °C and 13.0 °C, and the warmest month
means (January) are 22.6 °C and 25.1 °C for the Southern and Northern regions, respectively.
Except in winter, where temperature can rise for some days, the seasons are more or less are
marked. In general great thermal amplitude is registered, especially in the North.

The average date of first and last ground frost is from mid-May to mid-September in the North
and West, from the end of April to middle of October in the East, from beginning of June to
beginning of September in the South and from beginning of May to the middle of October in the
centre of the country, respectively. The average days with ground frosts is 20 in the North, 33 in
the West, 37 in the East, 10 in the South and 25 in the centre.

http://www.fao.org/ag/AGP/agpc/doc/Counprof/uruguay/uruguay2.htm

The evaporation depends on temperature, moisture and wind speed. In the Butana the average
temperature of December/January is 30.4°C, whereas in June it comes to 43° C.

It is worth noting that the high walls of the hafīrs could behave as a barrier against the wind,
which in these regions constitute the principal evaporation agent.
The annual evaporation in Argentina ranges from 2000 to 2500 mm/year for small reservoirs in
La Rioja, and about 3000 mm in Catamarca, that is to say similar records to those in the north of
the Sudan: Deeker (1972), indicates for the Khashm el-Girba dam in Atbara an annual
evaporation of 2.200 mm, and Kleinschroth (1986) quotes for the Butana 2600 mm/year.

http://www.ceemo.org.ar/hafirs.html