The southern wind: a user’s manual

There are cities where the wind makes the news. In Punta Arenas it’s the backdrop to everything else.

The reason is geographic: between 40 and 55 degrees south there is almost no land to slow the hemisphere’s air circulation, so the westerlies circle the planet unobstructed and reach Patagonia with all the speed they’ve built up. Sailors called them the Roaring Forties and the Furious Fifties, and it wasn’t a metaphor.

What it means in practice

Gusts of 100 km/h are nothing unusual. From spring through summer—the windiest season—they’re recorded regularly. In downtown Punta Arenas there are ropes strung between posts on some corners: they’re there so people can hold on as they cross.

That changes concrete things:

• Ferries get suspended. The crossing to Porvenir, the most exposed one, is canceled whenever a storm blows in. It isn’t bad luck: it’s part of the plan, which is why no itinerary that crosses the strait should have a flight the very next day.
• Trails get closed. In Torres del Paine, when the wind passes a certain threshold, park management closes the exposed passes. Arguing doesn’t help, and neither does taking the risk: there are falls every year.
• The car door. Open it with the wind at its back and the wind tears it away. Always hold on to it as you open it.

How to dress

The rule in the south is three layers: a thermal base layer next to the skin, a fleece in the middle and a waterproof windbreaker on top. The outer layer matters more for the wind than for the rain: at 12 °C with an 80 km/h wind, the wind chill drops by several degrees.

A hat and gloves, even in January, if the plan includes a boat trip or climbing to a lookout. And sunglasses, which at this latitude protect as much against radiation as against the dust the wind kicks up on gravel roads.

What doesn’t work: an umbrella. They last about fifteen seconds, and the locals will stare.

When it eases off

Summer brings strong but steadier winds; winter brings them less often but with more violent storms. The calmest months tend to be May and June, which are also the coldest and darkest.

In Aysén it’s a different story: the mountains hold back a good deal of it, and Coyhaique is noticeably more sheltered than Punta Arenas. Strong wind in Aysén shows up in the open valleys and over the lakes, not in the city.

What nobody tells you

By the third day it stops bothering you. It becomes part of being there, like the sound of the sea on the coast. And on the rare days when it drops—because it does drop—the silence is so unusual that people talk about it.