| Year | Average daily peak gust | Days over 60 km/h | Days over 100 km/h | The windiest day |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2016 | 49 km/h | 125 | 12 | 20 February 2016 · 121 km/h |
| 2017 | 67 km/h | 215 | 55 | 20 August 2017 · 158 km/h |
| 2018 | 67 km/h | 217 | 57 | 31 January 2018 · 138 km/h |
| 2019 | 64 km/h | 185 | 47 | 5 April 2019 · 150 km/h |
| 2020 | 66 km/h | 205 | 42 | 3 June 2020 · 166 km/h |
| 2021 | 65 km/h | 196 | 49 | 5 August 2021 · 151 km/h |
| 2022 | 61 km/h | 187 | 27 | 2 September 2022 · 137 km/h |
| 2023 | 60 km/h | 171 | 32 | 25 October 2023 · 139 km/h |
| 2024 | 53 km/h | 134 | 19 | 5 April 2024 · 143 km/h |
| 2025 | 52 km/h | 145 | 18 | 13 November 2025 · 132 km/h |
Peak gust between 8 am and 8 pm at 1,170 m, Copernicus ERA5 reanalysis via Open-Meteo. The reanalysis smooths the mountains: on the moraine itself the extreme days hit harder.
What happens above 100 km/h
Some 36 days a year. Nobody walks up high: the wind shifts you bodily, lifts small stones on the moraine and the lake fills with waves. In town tin roofs fly, lenga branches fall and now and then a whole tree across Route 41. Lago Viedma turns into a sea and the glacier boat trips are cancelled. The guides know the evening before from the gust forecast, and that morning you go to a sheltered valley, or you do not go.
The gales people remember
Every season has one or two big gales. The one on 3 June 2020 is the strongest in our series, in the middle of winter, with town almost empty. The summer ones are the ones people remember, because they catch hundreds of walkers on the trail: that is why the mountain forecast is on the weather page, so you check it the night before, not on the moraine.
Ten-year average: 178 days a year with gusts over 60 km/h up high, 36 over 100. One day in 10.
The live wind map, the wind on the trail right now and the full guide to the Patagonian wind: Read more →
Questions
What is the strongest wind ever recorded in El Chaltén?
In our series, 166 km/h gusts at the height of Laguna de los Tres on 3 June 2020 (ERA5 reanalysis). Stations in town have measured gusts over 120 km/h in several gales.
How many gale days are there a year?
With gusts over 100 km/h up high, about 36 a year. Over 60, about 178.
What do you do with the treks on a gale day?
We move them to the next day or another day of the stay, or go to a sheltered valley like the Río Eléctrico. Nobody climbs the moraine with gusts over 75 km/h.