Hottest Ever Day At Glacier Amid Freak Weather Events

This is the moment tourists look on as huge chunks of ice fall from a massive glacier where meteorologists have recorded the hottest ever temperatures.

The thermometer reached 35.6 degrees Celsius at the Perito Moreno Glacier, in the Los Glaciares National Park in southern Argentina’s Santa Cruz Province, one of the most popular tourist attractions in the Patagonia region.

Video Credit: CEN/@nahuelkees

It beat the previous record of 35 degrees Celsius, set in 1961, and came as the World Meteorological Organisation (WMO) reported a series of extreme weather events around the world.

The WMO did not specifically link the unusual conditions with climate change.

But spokeswoman Claire Nullis said extreme weather events had been recorded “literally every day” in various parts of the world in recent weeks.

Credit: CEN/@nahuelkees
Collapse of part of the glacier

They included a dangerous cold wave in North America, forest fires and then record flooding in Australia, intense rainfall in South America, as well as the heatwave that has been hitting Argentina and neighbouring Chile.

In Patagonia, local meteorologist Christian Garavaglia confirmed temperatures had reached as high as 38.2 degrees Celsius in the town of Perito Moreno and a record-breaking 35.6 degrees Celsius at the glacier.

Argentina’s National Meteorological Service said the high temperatures were caused by an anticyclone in the centre of the country which was pushing warm winds to Patagonia.

The Perito Moreno Glacier is 30 kilometres (19 miles) long and covers an area of 250 square kilometres (97 square miles). It is fed by the Southern Patagonian Ice Field, the world’s third largest reserve of fresh water.


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