Mexico City: Mexico City recorded the highest temperature on Saturday, with thermometers reaching 34.7 degrees Celsius (94.46 degrees Fahrenheit), as the country grapples with a heat wave.
According to the National Meteorological Service, the “highest temperature on record” was recorded at the Takubaya Observatory on Saturday evening.
The previous record of 34.4 degrees Celsius was set the day before at the same station in the capital, the weather service said.
The government said on Friday that 48 people had died as a result of the severe heat wave in the country.
According to the Ministry of Health, on May 21, more than 950 people had various health effects at that time.
The east coast state of Veracruz had the highest death toll, with 14, followed by Tabasco, San Luis Potosi and Tamaulipas with eight each.
Last year, Mexico reported 419 heat-related deaths in the summer, which lasted from March to October, in a country of 129 million people.
It’s not just humans who are suffering – dozens of monkeys have died due to the heat in southern Mexico.
Scientists at the National Autonomous University of Mexico warned on Wednesday that a heat wave could bring new record temperatures to the capital in the next two weeks.
Francisco Estrada, coordinator of the university’s Climate Change Research Program, said at a news conference that this year will be “the hottest year on record.”
At 2,240 meters (7,350 ft) above sea level, Mexico City enjoys a generally mild climate and some houses have air conditioning.
But the capital has seen record high temperatures several times this summer, with the mercury hitting 34.3 C on May 9 and 34.2 C on April 15.
In the capital and city of about 22 million people, the sweltering heat, combined with the low wind that emptied the store of bottled water and ice packs, caused pollution in the area where about 6.5 million vehicles travel.
President Andrés Manuel López Obrador described this year’s heat as “extraordinary”.
“This is a very unfortunate natural phenomenon associated with climate change.”
Mexico City records highest-ever temperature of 34.7 C
