The heat wave will last until next week

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Since this Monday, Córdoba has been experiencing high temperatures that are expected to last until next week. The maximum temperatures will be between 36° and 39°, while the minimum temperatures will range between 22° and 25° in the area of ​​the city of Córdoba. In other regions of the provincial map they may even be higher.

On the other hand, the Córdoba Hydrometeorological Observatory (OHMC) shared the Fire Danger Index that for this Tuesday showed an “extreme” risk in almost the entire province and “very extreme” in the northwest area. That alert will remain in place in the coming days.

“We can foresee the most complicated ones for Thursday and Friday, when temperatures can exceed 40 degrees,” Carina Vargas, meteorologist with the National Meteorological Service (SMN) in the Córdoba Airport forecast area, told La Voz.

The specialist indicated that a glimmer of relief could arrive on Saturday as a south wind front will progressively enter. This would counteract the northern hot air front from Brazil, which has been affecting the country for several days.

As a result, temperatures could drop a few degrees that day but there will also be higher humidity levels that could enhance the thermal sensation. “The thermal sensation begins to be measured when the temperature exceeds 26°C and the humidity rises above 40%,” said Vargas.

The phenomenon could also bring the probability of some precipitation: “There may be some storm clouds in mountain areas, but they would be very local and very dispersed. There may be abundant water fall in short periods of time at some points,” he noted.

Hello from the heat

In addition to Córdoba, the SMN renewed its alerts for high temperatures for 10 other provinces.

The alert is yellow for the province of Buenos Aires except the suburbs and the Coast; all of La Pampa except the north, all of Mendoza, all of San Luis except the north, south of San Juan, all of Neuquén, all of Río Negro, south of Santa Cruz, center and south of Córdoba, west of Entre Ríos and west and center of Santiago of the Estero.

The warning goes up to red alert for the south of the province of Buenos Aires, center and west of San Luis, west of La Pampa, all of Mendoza, north and center of Neuquén and north and east of Río Negro; Orange alert is already in place for part of the south of Buenos Aires, south of San Juan, part of the south of Neuquén and the center of Río Negro.

“What is happening now is a heat wave. This occurs when there are between three and five consecutive days with minimum and maximum temperatures that exceed certain temperature thresholds at the climatic level. These thresholds are different for each location,” Vargas explained.

And he added: “The high temperatures in Brazil caused hot air that the north wind has been bringing to Argentina for several days, we also had high temperatures in Patagonia and to that is added the high atmospheric pressure that we have in the center of the country. “These three factors also caused the high temperatures we experienced.”

The boy and the girl

Meanwhile, the global climate phenomena of El Niño, responsible for the unusual low temperatures in the first weeks of January and the intense rainfall in those weeks, will continue to have their consequences in the region. According to the SMN it would continue until March or April of this year.

El Niño/Southern Oscillation (ENSO) is a natural phenomenon characterized by climatic fluctuations resulting from temperature changes in the surface waters of the Equatorial Pacific. They occur every few years and can cause droughts, heat waves, strong storms, forest fires and other extreme events.

January heat in the city of Córdoba. (Ramiro Pereyra / The Voice)

“The El Niño phenomenon will have an influence until approximately April, which may cause precipitation to increase. That meant that we have not had so many hot days this summer, just this week and the previous week the normal temperatures for Córdoba for this time of year are being reached,” Vargas concluded.

El Niño follows a stage of more than three years with its counterpart, La Niña, which generated a prolonged drought in this part of the continent, between 2021 and 2023.

international summer school

The “Citizen Roundtable for Neighborhood Climate Action in the Face of Extreme Heat” in Córdoba, together with local and international associations and leaders, will hold an International Summer School 2024 from February 15 to 20.

The objective of the initiative is the prevention and anticipation of damage and losses due to extreme temperatures.

The training will be in person and virtual with Latin American and European leaders on the issue of climate change. Local, provincial and international round tables will be set up to bring the positions, initiatives and decisions of government representatives closer to citizens.

In addition, there will be conferences with speakers on different topics linked to extreme heat in South America and Europe and substance workshops, sectoral work groups, plenary sessions, citizen participation, among other topics.

The School will be held in person in several locations in Latin America, Santiago de Chile, Ambato and Quito de Ecuador; Bogota, Colombia, Yucatan, Mexico; Asuncion, Paraguay; Lima, Peru; and in Argentina in La Rioja, Aguilares, Tucuman; Valle Viejo, Catamarca and in the City of Córdoba in several headquarters.

Registration: [email protected], [email protected]. Or by phone 11 32166375.