The National Meteorological Service (SMN) issued an orange alert this Friday for extreme temperatures for several towns in Corrientes, Misiones, San Luis, Mendoza, La Pampa and Buenos Aires, according to the agency under the Ministry of Defense.
In addition, a yellow alert for heat is in effect for a large part of Corrientes, Córdoba, La Pampa, Entre Ríos, San Juan, Mendoza and Buenos Aires.
According to the SMN, the orange alert covers the City of Buenos Aires, where a maximum of 39° is expected for this Saturday and extends to part of the center and west of the province of Buenos Aires, where temperatures are expected above 38°.
In turn, this alert covers a large part of the province of La Pampa, part of the western sector of San Luis, the center and east of Mendoza, part of the northeast of Corrientes and the south of Misiones.
This level of warning for extreme temperatures indicates that the maximum marks expected for the day can have a moderate to high effect on the health of the population, but can be very dangerous, especially for risk groups, according to the SMN.
In turn, the SMN issued a yellow alert that extends to a large part of the province of Buenos Aires, with the exception of a northwestern sector and part of the southeastern sector of the Buenos Aires coast.
Along these same lines, the alert extends to the northern area of the province of La Pampa, where maximum temperatures of 37° are expected.
In turn, the alert applies to the south and east of the province of San Luis and a sector of the south west of Córdoba.
The alert extends to the northwest of the province of Mendoza where maximum temperatures of 36° are expected and to the south and a sector of eastern San Juan.
This warning also covers a large part of the province of Corrientes and the northeast of Entre Ríos where maximum temperatures of 36° are expected.
The heat did not let up
This Friday at 7:00 p.m., the city of La Rioja recorded the highest temperature in the country with 36.4°, followed by Gualeguaychú in Entre Ríos with 36.3° and the city of Santiago del Estero with 36.2°.
In the province of Buenos Aires, the highest temperature was recorded in the Buenos Aires town of Pehuajó with 35°, followed by Morón with 35.2°, Merlo with 35°, Ezeiza with 34.8°, Moreno with 34.8°, Campo de Mayo with 34.6° , Dolores with 34.2° and the Palomar with 34°.
The high temperatures that have been recorded since the beginning of the week from the center of Patagonia to the north of the country are the result of the entry of a mass of warm air from the west of the national territory that, added to the wind blowing from the north and conditions of little cloudiness cause the thermal marks to ascend and persist.
In some sectors, the entry of ocean breezes or temporary events of precipitation or cloudiness caused a slight momentary relief, however in places such as eastern Mendoza none of these factors occurred, so the persistence of high temperatures and the forecasts of The following days led the SMN to issue a red alert for heat yesterday that remains in force, in principle, until tomorrow.
Weekend
“The high temperatures in the city of Buenos Aires and its surroundings will continue during the weekend with maximums between 34 and 36 degrees and minimums between 22 and 24,” SMN meteorologist Cindy Fernández said in dialogue with Télam.
Likewise, he specified that “from Monday the hot days will continue”, but with slightly lower thermal marks, which will oscillate between 31 and 33 degrees and added that “from Sunday night and until Tuesday” the weather conditions will be “something unstable, with intermittent rainfall”.
“These rains and some breezes from the La Plata river will cause temporary drops in temperatures, but they will only be relief for moments, more than anything in those neighborhoods near the river,” said the specialist.
“Argentina is registering the 8th wave of summer heat, when in the last decade there were no more than 4 or 5 episodes per season,” reported the SMN.
“That of the period 2022-2023 was the warmest recorded since 1961, with an anomaly of +1.7°,” highlighted the SMN.
“These heat waves in the country began in mid-November and have continued with interruptions until today, affecting large areas of the territory,” the service explained.
“In the center of the country and a large part of northern Argentina, orange alerts are in effect due to extreme temperatures, from northern Patagonia to Tucumán, Santiago del Estero, Corrientes, the city of Buenos Aires and western Buenos Aires,” Fernández explained.
For its part, the SMN issued a yellow alert for storms this Friday in various towns in southern Jujuy, west and part of northern Salta, Mendoza, central and southeastern La Pampa and south of the province of Buenos Aires.
In these areas, rains and storms of varying intensity were forecast, some of which could be locally strong, accompanied by gusts, occasional hail, strong electrical activity and, fundamentally, abundant rainfall in short periods.
In turn, the service issued an alert for strong winds for the south of Chubut and a large part of the province of Santa Cruz, where winds are expected from the west sector with speeds between 50 and 70 kilometers per hour and gusts that can exceed 90 kilometres.
