Cold front no. 10 and the first winter storm caused temperatures to plummet and brought snow, sleet or rain to at least 21 states yesterday.
In Chihuahua, 18 locations recorded temperatures below 0 C including El Vergel and Bocoyna, where the mercury dropped to -15.1 C and -13.1 C respectively.
The death of a 65-year-old man from hypothermia was reported in El Vergel.
Parts of Nuevo León located in the Sierra Madre have also seen snow and freezing temperatures in recent days.
Farther to the south, the National Water Commission (Conagua) reported that a temperature of -13 C was recorded in the Zacatecas municipality of Concepción del Oro while parts of Durango were even colder at -16 C.
At least 11 municipalities in Puebla saw frosts while snow and sleet fell in mountainous areas of Hidalgo and Guanajuato.
The volcanos Popocatépetl, Iztaccíhuatl, Nevado de Toluca and Pico de Orizaba have all been blanketed in snow.
Authorities cancelled classes today for students from preschool to high school in 19 municipalities in Puebla and the entire state of Hidalgo due to the cold conditions.
In Querétaro, snowfall affected power lines, leaving several rural towns without electricity.
Heavy rain in the Gulf coast state of Tabasco damaged homes of 822 people who live in the municipalities of Cárdenas, Centla and Paraíso.
Strong wind felled trees in the three municipalities, lagoons in the region broke their banks and some roads and highways were closed to traffic.
Floodwaters completely cut off the Tabasco community of El Alacrán, forcing Civil Protection services to rescue residents by boat.
Residents of Mexico City also experienced cold temperatures yesterday. Civil Protection authorities activated an orange alert for five boroughs in the capital due to cold temperatures ranging between 0 and 3 C.
Highways linking Mexico City to Toluca, Ajusco, Oaxtepec and Cuernavaca were affected by a thick cover of fog that impeded visibility.
The National Meteorological Service (SMN) said this morning that “although the first winter storm and cold front no. 10 will cease to generate effects in Mexico, the mass of cold air associated with the front will maintain cold weather in much of Mexico.”
More snow is predicted to fall in mountainous regions of several states.
Minimum temperatures below -5 C were predicted for parts of Chihuahua, Durango, Zacatecas, Coahuila and Nuevo León.
The SMN said that 11 states could expect temperatures between -5 and 0 C and is predicting minimums of between 0 and 5 C for five others.
However, there are still parts of Mexico where the sun is shining and temperatures are high.
The meteorological agency predicted maximums of 35 to 40 C today in parts of Sinaloa, Nayarit, Jalisco, Colima, Michoacán, Guerrero, Oaxaca and Chiapas.
Source: El Universal (sp), Milenio (sp)
