SANTIAGO, Chile (AP) — Chileans are preparing for the coldest fall in more than 70 years just days after sinking into T-shirts — a dramatic wardrobe change brought about this week by a sudden cold front that hit parts of of South America in its grip who are not used to it. bitter wind chills this time of year.
Temperatures broke records along Chile’s coast and in the capital Santiago. They dropped to around freezing, making this month the coldest May the country has seen since 1950, the Chilean Meteorological Agency reported.
An unusual sequence of polar air masses has moved across southern parts of the continent, meteorological experts say, pushing the mercury below zero Celsius (32 Fahrenheit) in some places. It’s the latest example of extreme weather in the region – a heat wave now setting Mexico ablaze, for example – that scientists are linking to climate change.
“The last few days have seen one of the longest (cold fronts) ever recorded and one of the earliest ever recorded” before the onset of winter in the Southern Hemisphere, said Raul Cordero, a climatologist at the University of Santiago. cold air from Antarctica that brings temperatures below zero occurs from June onwards, not so much in May.”
The cold front moving in from Antarctica has collided with warm air moving in from the northwestern Amazon, helping to fuel heavy rains hitting Brazil, according to that country’s National Meteorological System.
The Chilean government has issued icy weather warnings for most of the country and has stepped up aid for homeless people struggling to tolerate the frigid temperatures on the streets. Snow blanketed the peaks of the Andes and fell in parts of Santiago, causing power outages in many areas this week.
“Winter came early,” said Mercedes Aguayo, a street vendor selling gloves and hats in Santiago.
She said she was pleased to see a boost in the business world after Chile’s record winter heat wave last year, which experts blamed on climate change and the cyclical El Niño weather pattern.
“We had stored these goods (hats and gloves) for four years because winters were always rarer, warm one day, cold the next,” Aguayo said.
This week’s cold wave also surprised parts of Argentina and Paraguay.
Energy demand soared in many parts of Argentina. Distributors have stopped deliveries to dozens of gas stations and industries in several provinces to avoid disruptions to households, the country’s main hydrocarbon company CECHA said on Thursday.
