Santiago de Chile has sounded all its alarms in anticipation of a new storm that will hit starting this Monday night, bringing thunderstorms, hail and strong winds. This emergency is worrying the inhabitants of the capital of the South American country, who at the beginning of this month of August were hit with powerful gusts of more than 120 kilometers per hour that unleashed a serious crisis in the electric power system, which left hundreds of homes without power for almost two weeks. Fallen trees, toppled poles and cut cables caused the most extensive power outage since the earthquake of February 27, 2010, in an event that also led to an intense debate on the management of this basic service and strong criticism of the Italian multinational company Enel, which is responsible for providing the service in most of the municipalities of the Metropolitan Region.
This Monday, the National Service for Disaster Prevention and Response (Senapred), the agency in charge of organizing state emergency teams, extended a warning to the entire region preventive early warning which was declared last Saturday, August 17 for eight municipalities located in the pre-mountain and mountain areas of Santiago. With this measure, monitoring of weather conditions will be reinforced and resources will be deployed to respond to any disaster.
The advance of the storm
Senapred activated the preventive early warning after receiving reports from the Meteorological Directorate of Chile (DMC), the entity in charge of providing official weather forecasts in Chilean territory. On Monday, the agency issued a meteorological warning for normal to moderate winds in some areas —especially those near the Andes mountain range— in the regions of Coquimbo, Valparaíso, Metropolitana, O’Higgins and Maule. According to the report, this condition will extend until the early hours of Thursday, August 22. The report also mentioned that this phenomenon will be associated with a jet stream, that is, a narrow and strong band of wind.
What is white wind
The forecast for Santiago de Chile also mentioned the possibility of white wind in the mountainous areas. Blizzards occur in the middle of storms, when strong winds drag precipitation or accumulated snow. This phenomenon is dangerous because it directly affects people’s visibility, so authorities recommend avoiding going out when it occurs. In the first preventive alert issued, Senapred detailed that the probability of white wind covered the municipalities of Lo Barnechea, Vitacura, Las Condes, La Reina, Peñalolén, La Florida, Puente Alto and San José de Maipo, all located in the interior of the city and near the Andean mountains. For these same municipalities, winds were forecast to reach between 50 and 60 kilometers per hour.
Hail and rain
The preventive early warning for the Metropolitan Region includes other situations that could complicate the normal functioning of the Chilean capital. According to the forecast, there will be a thunderstorm on Wednesday, August 21, in addition to hail. Light rainfall was also forecast for the central valleys on that same day, reaching 1 to 3 millimeters.
The weather forecast for the week
Estimates indicate that the wind storm will last at least until the early hours of Thursday, August 22. The US platform AccuWeatherwhich provides its own weather forecast, said that for the rest of that day a maximum temperature of 13° is expected, with partial cloud cover. Friday, August 23 will be similar, as the morning will be cold with a minimum of 2°, and the maximum will also top out at a cool 13°.
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