Characteristics

Chile's climate is greatly influenced by the cold Humboldt Current, which regulates temperatures, attenuates maximum temperatures and prevents extreme temperature variations throughout the year.

The Andes Mountains also affect temperature, rainfall, and water reserves. They block the influence of the Pacific, encourage rainfall in eastern Chile along the western face of the mountains, and accumulate snow and ice during the winter to provide a reserve of water for irrigation during the summer.

Chile's climate varies substantially from the warm, dry north to the cooler, wetter south, but there is also significant variation from the east to west determined by geography and oceanic influence.

In general, the soils are of alluvial origin with widely varying textures, depths and degrees of fertility.