One of the coldest winter starts ever observed in South Amer

[Matt-hurricanewatcher]

One of the coldest winter starts ever observed in South America - 5 Jun 07
May 2007 will go down in history as one of the coldest starts to winter ever in South America.
A brutal cold wave brought record low temperatures, widespread frost, snow and major energy
disruption. The death toll for the 10-day cold wave was the highest for any single weather event
in Argentina in recent history.
Millions of residents fired up space heaters, straining Buenos Aires’ electrical grid for three
nights and forcing authorities to slash power supply nationwide and briefly cut domestic natural
gas provisions and exports to Chile. Many factories went idle when distributors shut off or
reduced gas supplies to give priority to homes. Government regulators also ordered an 800-
megawatt electricity cut nationwide for four hours, which led to sporadic blackouts in the
capital Buenos Aires. The shortages also had a ripple effect in neighboring Chile, where
authorities scrambled to provide energy after Argentina slashed natural gas exports.

Temperatures hit the freezing point or dipped below for three successive nights in the
Argentinean capital. Such cold is rare for the southern-hemisphere autumn in Buenos Aires,
which normally sees temperatures in the 40s and 50s F or higher this time of year. According
to the Servicio Meteorologico Nacional (Argentina Weather Service), the low temperature of
0.3ºC in Downtown Buenos Aires was the lowest for the month of May since 1962. The city
also suffered the lowest windchill value in May for the last 36 years. On May 28th, the
temperature at midday in Buenos Aires was only 3.7ºC, unprecedented in recent history

See entire article by Eugenio Hackbart, Chief Meteorologist for MetSul Weather Center
in Sao Leopoldo, state of Rio Grande do Sul, Southern Brazil
http://icecap.us/index.php/go/joes-blog ... old_spell/

[Meso]

Can believe that,lots of the cold fronts that have been passing over South America have been reaching South Africa,the ridge is displaced to the north so we're also getting some heavy weather from these same fronts.

[Matt-hurricanewatcher]

Six thousands trucks stranded by snow-blocked Andes tunnel - 13 Jun 07
Heavy snow and wind have forced closure of a key mountain highway and tunnel
connecting Argentina with Chile leaving an estimated 6.000 fully loaded trucks stranded.
Argentine transit officials predicted the Cristo Redentor tunnel , 1,300 kilometers from
Buenos Aires, would remain impassable for another 72 hours because of snowstorms
and winds, reported the Argentine news
agency Telam.

The Andes crossing which links Mendoza with Santiago de Chile is crucial for Mercosur
land transport.
http://www.mercopress.com/vernoticia.do ... rmato=HTML