Record cold and snowy winter across much of South America


 
While we residents of beautiful North Idaho were enjoying a near record amount of sunshine and our seventh hottest July in 118 years since at least 1895, our South American friends were, by extreme contrast weatherwise, shivering in their coldest, and in some cases, snowiest July in living memory.
More than two feet of snow buried parts of southern Chile in mid July. The Chilean Army was called upon to rescue people trapped by the blizzard. There were several deaths caused by hypothermia across both Chile and Argentina. Flu cases mounted. Livestock losses were widespread in both sheep and cattle.

On July 16, the Antarctic coldwave produced a hard freeze in normally mild Buenos Aires, Argentina. The mercury at the airport dipped to 23 degrees Fahrenheit (minus-5 degrees Celsius) at 6:30 a.m. The sub-freezing temperatures persisted for several days destroying many tropical plants and trees. The Argentine winter wheat also had crop damage from the frosts.
Elsewhere in Argentina, extremely rare measurable snowfalls were noted this July in the wine country of Mendoza. Temperatures plunged to as low as 22 degrees Fahrenheit. Some damage was likely to the grape vines. Snow totals exceeded six inches in places.
On the morning of July 15, the resort beaches of Mar del Plata, quite similar to the beaches in Florida, saw their first snows in living memory along the northeastern coastline of Argentina.
In all, nearly every province of Argentina saw at least a bit of snow in mid July, an unusual event indeed. The town of Tucuman observed its first measurable snowfall since 1921, two inches.
The strong southern winds brought record cold temperatures by July 17-19 into Bolivia, Paraguay, Uruguay and extreme southern Brazil where the coffee crop was nipped, but not destroyed, by light freezes.
By July 20-21, the frigid Antarctic airmass had done something that few cold fronts ever do, it slipped northward into southeastern Columbia and northwestern Brazil to a point north of the Equator. This has happened less than a dozen times in the past century in South America.
This extremely potent cold front whitened many mountain peaks in the state of Santa Catarina in southeastern Brazil. The town of Urupenia saw its coldest reading ever of 18 degrees Fahrenheit (minus-8 degrees Celsius) on July 18.
Wet snow and sleet were seen in parts of sub-tropical Uruguay on both July 16 and 18. There were many traffic accidents on the slick roadways. Power shortages were reported in both Uruguay and northeastern Argentina during the Antarctic outbreaks. Stores ran out of generators, batteries and winter clothing. Hospitals were packed with patients suffering from upper respiratory illnesses. The airport at Montevideo, Uruguay, reported an all-time record low temperature of 16 degrees Fahrenheit (minus-9 degrees Celsius) on July 17.
Many climatologists blame the new 'La Nina' colder sea-surface temperature event in the waters of the east-central Pacific Ocean for the harsh winter of 2013 across South America. It's my climatological opinion, however, that a colder Antarctic continent is responsible. But, once again, only time will tell.
THE REAL FACTS ON VOLCANIC ACTIVITY
To answer a huge number of subscribers' questions concerning the effects of volcanic activity on our planet's climate, I believe that since the dawn of Mankind, every cycle of extremely high volcanic activity, including the recent eruption in June of 1991 of Mt. Pinatubo in the Philippines, has been followed by at least a brief period of global cooling. Temperatures worldwide during the 18 months following the Mt. Pinatubo blast cooled by more than a degree Fahrenheit. While Professor Ian Plimer seems to have exaggerated his claims, to compare volcanic eruptions in Hawaii to Mt. Pinatubo, is like comparing a 'firecracker' to a hydrogen bomb.
Recurring changes in solar, volcanic and sea-surface temperature cycles have resulted in more major climate changes than all of Man's puny influences in the past 50,000 years combined.
Also, in answering another question, a U.S. Government document produced in 1966 was released on Sunday, Nov. 4, 2012, and outlined the six decade plans from 1966 through 2026 for national weather modification programs and its 'management' of probable international impacts, legal and social ramifications, species disruptions, and possible biological consequences resulting from these various weather modification programs.
Additional recent documents have stated, as I've pointed out in past 'Gems' columns, that the U.S., China, Russia and other countries are in a mad race to "own the weather." The nation that learns to control the weather will probably control the world. It's called 'Weather Warfare.'
The report also pointed out that the U.S. has already spent many millions of dollars since 1966 in various weather modification programs including producing artificial clouds for supposedly helping to cool the planet and bouncing signals from drones to the military and law enforcement officers.
Remember, years ago, I warned people about "evolving drone technology" to spy on U.S. citizens and destroy our enemies abroad. If a drone takes pictures of you in your home or on the highway, don't be too surprised. Did you see the recent cover of Time Magazine with a drone staring into a family's house?
BIG BROTHER IS ALIVE AND WELL!
NORTH IDAHO WEATHER REVIEW AND LONG-RANGE OUTLOOKS
July was the seventh hottest on record locally in Coeur d'Alene since at least 1895. There were 17 afternoons at my weather station on Player Drive above or at 90 degrees.
The mercury hit 99 degrees on July 2 and 97 degrees on both July 1 and July 23. There were 11 straight days between July 16 and July 26 with hot 'Sholeh' readings in the 90s.
Our lowest minimum during July was 50 degrees on the 14th. The average low was 57 degrees and the average maximum temperature was 89 degrees, exactly 5 degrees above the 118-year norm.
There were only two days this July with measurable precipitation. Thunderstorms brought .35 inches on July 8 and another .12 inches on July 17 for a rather puny monthly rainfall total of just .47 inches, approximately half of the normal .92 inches for July.
Despite some much-needed moisture in our part of the country in early August, which included an Aug. 2 record of .78 inches in town as of 8 a.m. on Friday, the next 60 days or so into early October should be mostly dry and quite warm under a strong stationary ridge of high pressure with only scattered thunderstorms for variety.