Tropical Cuba registers freezing point for first time

HAVANA – Cuba registered a record low of 0 deg C on Feb 3, the first time freezing point has been documented on the Caribbean island, according to its Institute of Meteorology.

A weather station in the northern province of Matanzas “registered a value of 0 deg C, reaching freezing point for the first time on Cuban territory and setting a new national record,” the Insmet institute said on its Facebook page.

The island’s previous record, of 0.6 deg C, was reported in 1996.

The provincial meteorological centre of Matanzas said frost had been reported on crops, a very unusual phenomenon on the usually hot, tropical island.

Insmet said the temperature drop was due to an intense cold front that has dragged a mass of polar air from North America into the Caribbean.

An exceptional cold snap swept over large parts of the United States in late January, causing at least 13 hypothermia-related deaths in New York, whose mayor said on Feb 2 the city could be in the “longest period of consecutive sub-0 deg C weather” in its history.

Another storm hit the southern United States over the weekend, with cold-stunned iguanas falling from trees in normally mild Florida, roughly 145km from the coast of Cuba.

Cuba has kept meteorological records since the mid-19th century, though data has become more reliable since the second half of the 20th century. AFP