MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Cold weather snap hits South America and more to come

Thousands of Argentines cheered and threw snowballs in the streets of Buenos Aires on Monday as the capital's first major snowfall since 1918 spread a thin white mantle across the region. The freezing spell also extended to Chile, Bolivia and Uruguay.

Wet snow fell for hours in the Argentine capital, accumulating in a mushy but thin white layer late Monday, after freezing air from Antarctica collided with a moisture-laden low pressure system that blanketed higher elevations in western and central Argentina with snow. Argentina's National Weather Service said it was the first major snow in Buenos Aires since June 22, 1918, though sleet or freezing rain have been periodically reported in decades since. The storm struck on Argentina's Independence Day holiday, adding to a festive air and prompting radio stations to play an old tango song inspired by the 1918 snowfall, "What a night!" The snow followed a bitter cold snap in late May that saw subfreezing temperatures, the coldest in 40 years in Buenos Aires. That cold wave contributed to an energy crisis and 23 deaths from exposure. In neighboring Chile temperatures dropped to -18C (0F) in parts of Araucania region in the south of the country. Several exposure deaths were reported. According to a report from the Chilean Meteorology Center the lowest temperatures have been reported from Curicó (117 miles south of the capital city of Santiago) on south. The cities that have been hit hardest by the freezing storm are Curicó (30 degrees F), Chillán (25ºF), Concepción (28ºF), Temuco (22ºF), Vladivia (22ºF), Osorno (22ºF), Puerto Montt (22ºF), Coihaique (5ºF), and Balmaceda (-3ºF). In Bolivia heavy snowfall blocked the country's main motorway and in Uruguay several regions were exposed to freezing rain and a thin white mantle of snow forcing the closure of several airports, local officials reported. In Uruguay the latest report of snow dates back to 1962. Meteorologists predict that the cold snap will last for several more days and that low temperatures could get even more extreme.