Thousands of Argentines cheered and threw snowballs in the streets of Buenos Aires on July 9 as the capital city’s first snowfall since 1918 spread a thin white mantle across the region.
Wet snow fell for hours in the Argentine capital on Monday, July 9, accumulating in a mushy but thin white layer late in the evening, after freezing air from Antarctica collided with a moisture-laden low pressure system that blanketed higher elevations in western and central Argentina with snow.
“Despite all my years, this is the first time I’ve seen snow in Buenos Aires,” said Juana Benitez, an 82-year-old to newspaper reporters – before joining children celebrating in the streets.
Argentina’s National Weather Service said it was the first snowfall in Buenos Aires since June 22, 1918, though sleet or freezing rain have been periodically reported in the decades since. One man stripped to his shorts to welcome the snow. Children scraped snow from cars and threw snowballs. Motorists honked horns in celebration – some had small snowmen on their hoods. Some fender benders were reported on slick suburban streets.
The snowstorm struck on Argentina’s Independence Day holiday, adding to a festive air and prompting radio stations to play and old tango song inspired by the 1918 snowfall – “What a night!”
“This is the kind of weather phenomenon that comes along every 100 years,” forecaster Hector Ciappesoni told La Nacion newspaper. “It is very difficult to predict.”
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.
