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Buenos Aires (AFP) – Argentina is enduring this year the hottest summer on record, with record temperatures and lack of rain that damage agriculture and keep the country under weather alert, according to official reports.
Last November, still in spring, Argentina registered the first of nine heat waves when the usual number is four or five in summer and will continue in autumn with temperatures up to 55% above average, reported the National Meteorological Service (SMN).
According to the SMN, which collects data since 1961, this is the warmest summer since then and last month was also the second driest February, with 41.9% less rain than average.
“It is difficult for now to attribute everything to climate change,” Cindy Fernández, an SMN specialist, told AFP. However, studies indicate that “climate change makes the occurrence of prolonged heat waves with great territorial extension 60 times more likely” such as those that Argentina is going through.
We have had extreme heat since November, we are in March and it does not end
This Thursday, March 9, the entry of cold southern air brings relief to the south of the country, “but in the center and north the temperatures will continue to be very high. In Buenos Aires we will possibly have another heat wave next week,” he said.
Estela Lago, 49, a vendor at a Buenos Aires kiosk, is fed up with this endless summer. “I can’t take it anymore. We’ve had extreme heat since November, it’s March and it’s not over,” she complained.
This week the red alert covers a third of the country.
“It is not normal to have heat waves in March, the latter was very long, in the city of Buenos Aires it lasted for seven days,” said Fernández, who indicated that the usual duration is three days.
more drought
The combination of high temperatures and drought led to forest fires and affected the agricultural yields of this country, which is one of the main food exporters.
“Argentina is suffering from an unprecedented climatic scenario in modern agriculture,” warned the Rosario Stock Exchange in its latest report. “There is no rain in sight that would allow us to put a floor on the harvest, the situation is very serious and it could get worse,” he added.
Soybean production, the main export product, will fall to its lowest volume in 14 years, with losses also in wheat and corn. The entity estimated losses of about 10,000 million dollars this year.
“This drought was caused by the La Niña phenomenon and it is expected that in autumn it will begin to weaken until it disappears, but the atmosphere is slow to respond,” explained Fernández.
overwhelmed
The phenomenon coincided last week with the start of the school year.
“The kids break down, they can’t concentrate, there are 39 students in a classroom with no air circulation,” described Patricia Castro, mother of a seven-year-old girl who is a student at a public school in the Boedo neighborhood, in Buenos Aires, without air conditioning. .
“The patio where physical education is done burns, without shade, it is inhumane,” said this employee who sends her daughter to school anyway “because there is no one to take care of her at home.”
Daniel Botaro, father of eight-year-old twins, decided not to send them “until the heat ‘relaxed’.”
Although the authorities did not suspend classes, complaints from parents multiply.
“At school with these temperatures and without air conditioning, with the danger that it carries… there is little respect for the boys,” Ricardo Merkin considered.
In Buenos Aires, an operation was arranged for the distribution of bottled water in schools. The Ministry of Health maintains an alert to prevent heat stroke.
The increase in energy demand due to high temperatures has also caused power outages and user protests.
“The heat affects poor people more, especially children,” said Ernesto Texo, a 70-year-old lawyer, recalling that in Argentina poverty affects 37% of the population.
For Valeria Sparrow, a 50-year-old employee, “the heat is tiring, but inflation is worse,” which in 2022 was almost 100% per year.
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