A severe cold wave is sweeping across three South American countries due to the influence of icy polar air coming from Antarctica. This has caused unbearable cold across Argentina, Uruguay and Chile. At least 15 people have died as a result.
The temperature in the Argentine capital Buenos Aires was recorded at minus 1.9 degrees Celsius on Wednesday, which is the lowest since 1991. The temperature in the southern city of Macuinchao dropped to minus 18 degrees Celsius on Tuesday.
Thousands of people have spent more than 24 hours without electricity due to increasing electricity demand and load shedding across the region. To deal with the situation, the government has suspended gas supply to the industrial sector and petrol pumps and lifted price controls on gas cylinders on Thursday. Meanwhile, NGO ‘Proyecto 7’ said that at least 9 homeless people have died in Argentina this winter.
Meanwhile, the Uruguayan government has issued a nationwide ‘red alert’. Six people have already died from the cold. President Yamandu Orsi’s government has decided to forcibly take the homeless into shelters. The highest temperature in the capital Montevideo on June 30 was just 5.8 degrees Celsius, the lowest since 1967.
Chile has also been hit by severe cold. In the city of Chian, 400 kilometers south of the capital Santiago, the temperature dropped to minus 9.3 degrees Celsius. The government has opened emergency shelters for the homeless. The most surprising event occurred in the Atacama region, the driest desert in the world, where it snowed for the first time in a decade.
“This is the result of the polar air flow, which has escaped from Antarctica and overtaken South America,” said Raul Cordero, a climate scientist at the University of Santiago in Chile.
The impact of climate change?
Meteorologist Arnaldo Zuniga said, “It is very unusual for such cold air to reach so far north.” “We can’t rule out such an event due to climate change.” Temperatures are expected to rise slightly in the coming days. On Thursday, Buenos Aires recorded 12 degrees, Montevideo 14 degrees and Santiago 24.7 degrees Celsius.
“It was very surprising to go from cold to hot. The change was very sharp,” said Daphne Naranjo, an 18-year-old student from Santiago. “The rate of heat waves has now increased threefold in all seasons, winter or summer. The same trend is not only seen in South America, but all over the world.”
Source: France 24