Climate disparities
The dual polar and tropical influence results in high summer temperatures in northern Patagonia, while it's not unusual for it to freeze in winter in the Chaco, a subtropical forest region close to Paraguay. In addition to these climatic contrasts, Argentina is also characterized by its aridity: less than 200 mm of rain falls over a third of the country. This arid desert climate is found mainly in the north-west of the country and in the steppes of the Deep South. Thus, a dry Argentina can be distinguished from a humid one, with humidity and heat increasing from south to northeast. The humid part includes Mesopotamia (northeast), La Pampa Oriental and the northeastern Chaco, which receives annual rainfall close to 2,000 mm. The climate in the Northeast is identified with a subtropical regime (rainfall spread throughout the year and high average temperatures). In Iguazú, for example, rain is likely to fall all year round, although the months between October and March are still the wettest. Dry Argentina comprises the Puna (Andean highlands), the eastern slopes of the Andes (excluding the Tucumán region) and the western parts of La Pampa, Chaco and Patagonia. This ensemble forms an arid diagonal, which can be traced on a map from the north-west (Puna) to the south-east of Patagonia. In the north-west, along the Cordillera, the Andean climate is cool and sunny. In the south, precipitation is usually snowy, and temperatures drop considerably near the cold polar zone, accompanied by unpredictable weather conditions (wind, snow, storms, etc.). Finally, in the Mendoza region along the Chilean border, with its dry, temperate climate, conditions are optimal for the wine industry. The region's hot, dry climate is counterbalanced by its proximity to the Andes, at an altitude of between 800 and 1,200 meters.
The hostile climate of Patagonia
"The Patagonian steppe invites humans to silence, for the powerful voice of the wind always tells of where it has come from and, laden with scents, tells of all it has seen", confides Chilean writer Luis Sepúlveda in his book Dernières Nouvelles du Sud. Nothing stands still for long on the immense Patagonian land, neither sun, nor rain, nor snow, nor fog. By the time you close your eyes and open them again, the weather has changed and the wind has pushed the scenery further and further towards the horizon. For here, on earth as in the sky, the wind is master of all things. And while it may be invisible, it is nevertheless responsible for the slightest relief in a landscape it has forged over time: the trees, whose trunks bend towards the ground, the erosion and color of the rocks, the waves of the crystalline lagoons... The further south you venture, the more violent and frightening the winds become, and with good reason they have been christened the Roaring 40th and Howling 50th. Even if they have shaped maritime routes, these unpredictable winds are the most hostile on the planet. A famous maritime saying puts it rather well: "Under 40 degrees, there's no law, but under 50 degrees there's no God". Behind the saying lies a scientific reality: the temperature conflict between the icy waters of Antarctica and the warm currents that surround the ice continent. This encounter has the effect of a meteorological shock, generating a multitude of depressions, each time draining a larger swell: waves can reach up to 30 metres in height... In Patagonia, four seasons can occur in a single day: wind, snow, rain or sunshine, you can expect anything! In Rio Gallegos, temperatures can drop to -20°C, but in Ushuaia, less than 4,000 kilometers from the South Pole, the mercury rarely dips below -21°C. This inability to know the weather situation has given rise to a saying among the Patagonians: "Quien se apura en la Patagonia pierde el tiempo" (those who rush to Patagonia lose their time). Nature plays such a fundamental role in our daily movements and activities that when the weather's bad, it's better to wait it out and stay at home! Finally, the joy of traveling to the ends of the earth during the austral summer: while the sun melts into the horizon at around 5pm in January, night doesn't fall until 11pm in Ushuaia, and the sun reappears at around 4am. Nights are short, which is great if you like hiking.
Climate Change
Of course, Argentina is not immune to the major current issue of climate change - quite the contrary, in fact: because they are warming faster, the polar regions are the most affected. As the ice caps melt, Argentine Patagonia is suffering the most serious and devastating effects of global warming, destabilizing its ecosystems and reducing its biodiversity. In 2019, it was the first time that heat records were set at such high latitudes in the Southern Hemisphere. Temperatures reached extreme values in Santa Cruz province: up to 38.2°C at Perito Moreno and 35.8°C at Río Gallegos. What's more, for the first time in Tierra del Fuego, temperatures exceeded 30°C, a rare and alarming phenomenon. Finally, in February 2020, Argentina's Antarctic recorded a record warmth of 18.3°C, more precisely at Base Esperanza: the hottest temperature ever recorded on the icy continent. The previous record was 17.5°C in 2015. Glacier melt is accelerating in the region, particularly since A68, the world's largest iceberg, broke away from Antarctica. This historic heat wave was offset by below-normal temperatures: down to -25°C in San Carlos de Bariloche and in the ski resort of San Martín de los Andes in Patagonia, a record not equalled since 1963. As a result of climate change, glaciers are retreating, pouring large quantities of freshwater into the ocean like open faucets. The composition of the water changes, impacting the entire marine ecosystem. A victim of global warming, the Perito Moreno glacier, reputed to be one of the only glaciers in Patagonia not to retreat, fractured in 2018 and now appears to be on borrowed time. The Upsala glacier, one of the largest glaciers in the region, is the one that has retreated the most in the last 50 years, retreating almost 300 metres and losing 20 metres of thickness per year. Of the 18,000 glaciers in the Andes, melting has been accelerating since the 2000s in the Southern Patagonia region: the increasingly fragile ice giants are losing an average of 15 metres in thickness. Although they have become a pale skin, they are sensors that tell us how healthy our planet is, and important reservoirs of strategic water for the future. Fortunately, scientific studies are multiplying and tourists are increasingly aware of the fate of glaciers, their retreat and global warming. Museums such as the Glaciarium in El Calafate aim to educate the local population and tourists about these issues. In the Andes mountain range, snowfall is decreasing (in the space of a century, some peaks have lost 60% of their snowfall) and winters are getting milder. Climate change can also be observed on the pampas, with heat peaks taking a heavy toll on flora and fauna: during the heatwave of 2008, more than one and a half million cows perished. More recently, in 2019 and 2020, Argentina's drought has seriously threatened wheat production, while on the Atlantic coast, flooding is on the increase and rising water levels are threatening seaside resorts. In the Mendoza region, agriculture was also under threat, as the lack of snow became increasingly acute with the arrival of spring. When the thaw comes, the water is supposed to irrigate the mountain slopes, fill the lakes and water the soil. Today, however, rivers and lakes are drier and drier, and grass is becoming increasingly scarce. At the beginning of 2020, a hail storm in the province of Córdoba led a team of researchers to propose a new category of hail: hailstones between 19 and 24 centimetres in diameter! Dubbed "gargantuan hail", this exceptional precipitation, which has yet to be studied, caused a great deal of damage: perforated roofs, impacted windscreens, shattered windows... a great deal of destructive potential! What's more, global warming is giving way to microclimates more conducive to agriculture: Patagonian wine, born in the 2010s, is the southernmost in the world. A window onto a future that doesn't look very bright, southern Argentina is nevertheless proving to be a very good laboratory for scientists: the region is home to a chain of events that should be observed in other ecosystems over the coming decades. Several scientists have set up probes in the region. They monitor the evolution of ecosystems and do their best to anticipate global warming in the world's other seas. Finally, on the 50th Earth Day, April 22, 2020, Pope Francis encouraged young people to take to the streets again (post-confinement forced by the Covid-19 global pandemic) to save a "polluted and plundered" planet: the Argentine pontiff blames his own country's leaders for too weak a response.
