It’s been a hot year in Mexico, and August was no exception. According to the National Meteorological Service (SMN), average temperatures were the highest ever for the month since the SMN started keeping records in 1953.
The average nationwide temperature in August was 27 C, 3.3 degrees higher than normal.
Previously, the hottest August on record was in 2015, when the average temperature was 26.4.
Some municipalities broke records this year, including Eduardo Neri, Guerrero, where temperatures reached 47.5 degrees on August 3, and Aldama, Chihuahua, where the mercury rose to 45 on August 6.
In Mexico City records were broken between August 14 and 18. Hottest of those days was the 16th, when the temperature reached 28.6.
It was also the hottest August on record for Coahuila, Chiapas, Durango, Hidalgo, Nuevo León, Querétaro, Quintana Roo, San Luis Potosí, Tabasco, Tamaulipas and Yucatán.
The SMN noted that every month in 2019 has been hotter than average. One contributing factor has been low rainfall, which is currently at 78% of the average for the period.
“The rain accumulated across the country between January 1 and September 1 in 2019 was 384.1 millimeters, while the climatology for the period is 493.5 millimeters, which means that it’s only rained 78% of what it usually rains,” said the SMN. “That could be associated with low cloud cover, increasing short-wave radiation which arrives to the surface, and low humidity, which decreases evaporation that lowers surface temperatures.”
Source: Reforma (sp)
