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Heavy snowfall in Chile causes record damage

by Kaitlin | August 10, 2007 at 08:12 am

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It's winter in the southern hemisphere. Even so, the snow hitting Chile is record breaking--it's the worst snowfall to hit the South American country in eight years. Yet another sign of climate change (along with Brooklyn tornadoes and English floods)? That's for you to decide...

"The losses, so far, total some $250 million and at least 38,000 jobs have been lost temporarily," the news agency said citing Luis Schmidt, the head of the National Agriculture Society.

Heavy snow has been falling for several days and has completely paralyzed some districts of Santiago, damaged power lines and some pipelines. Thick layers of snow have covered highways causing numerous traffic accidents, but authorities said there have been no reports of casualties.

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ScienceDave

at 10:53 on August 10th, 2007

This from a friend of mine from Chile, with family in Santiago:

The weather is getting more extreme and weird every year.

Normally it doesnt snow in Santiago, except in the high areas, and
rarely and very little, but this time it was snowing a lot. I dont
think snow this thick has been seen in Santiago for about a hundred
years.

I havent called my family yet, but I will let you know when I get
details from there.