The previous record, of 0.6 °C, was recorded in 1996 in the province of Mayabeque, neighboring Matanza.
Cuba recorded zero degrees Celsius in the early hours of Tuesday in the province of Matanzas, to the west, neighboring Havana, the capital, the lowest temperature ever recorded on the island, announced the country’s meteorological institute.
The Indio Hatuey weather station “it registered a value of 0 degrees Celsius, reaching the freezing point for the first time in Cuban territory and representing a new national record” minimum temperature, indicated the Insmet institute on its Facebook page.
The previous record, of 0.6 °C, was recorded in 1996 in the province of Mayabeque, neighboring Matanza.
The Matanzas Provincial Meteorological Center confirmed the presence of frost on plantations in the Indio Hatuey region, an unusual phenomenon on an island with a tropical climate.
Cuba has meteorological records since the mid-19th century, although the most reliable are those dated from the second half of the 20th century.
According to Insmet, the unusual drop in temperatures in Cuba is explained by the arrival of a very intense cold front coming from North America, which dragged a mass of polar air into the Caribbean.
The combination of clear skies, dry air and light winds during the night favored rapid cooling, which caused temperatures to drop to unusual levels on an island accustomed to heat almost all year round.
Part of the United States has been subject to intense cold since the passage of a huge winter storm that caused dozens of deaths, left hundreds of thousands of people without electricity and caused chaos in air traffic.
In Florida, the US state known for its beaches and heat, about 150 kilometers from Cuba, these conditions caused a curious phenomenon: the fall of iguanas, numb from the cold.
