Chile braces for weekend of heavy snow and plunging temperatures as new weather system arrives

A new frontal system is moving toward Chile and will arrive Friday, bringing heavy precipitation, snow accumulations of up to 90 centimeters, and a significant cold air mass that will drive temperatures down across much of the country. The system, currently positioned over the ocean, will advance on Thursday and reach Chile between late night Friday and Friday morning, first affecting Patagonia and southern regions with wind gusts reaching 70 to 80 kilometers per hour in some sectors. Mountain areas in the southern and austral cordillera are expected to receive between 70 and 90 centimeters of snow, while some southern localities will accumulate 30 to 60 millimeters of rain.

The cold front will bring widespread instability through Saturday and Sunday, with the zero-degree Celsius isotherm descending to lower elevations, allowing snow to develop across northern Patagonia and southern mountain regions. A secondary effect of the system will be an intense cold air mass that will lower temperatures even in regions that receive no direct precipitation. Some areas are expected to experience temperature drops of up to 7 degrees Celsius below seasonal averages, with the most intense cold felt along the southern coast, coastal mountain ranges, and valleys in the central-north region.

Precipitation from the frontal system will extend from Patagonia to parts of the central zone, with post-frontal instability on Saturday and Sunday primarily affecting the Biobío and Aysén regions. Following the weekend, an extensive high-pressure system will settle over much of Chile early in the week, bringing clear skies to the central north and north-central regions but also producing morning frosts and poor air dispersion conditions. There is currently no timeline for the return of significant rainfall to the most populated sectors of the Metropolitan, Valparaíso, and Coquimbo regions.