Chilly in Chile: South America Hit by Freak Cold Snap

(Aug. 6) -- The U.S. might be experiencing a hot, hot summer, but south of the border, things couldn't be more different. Latin America's southernmost regions are shivering through the coldest winter in decades, which has left vast swaths of Argentina and Brazil with snow, and caused millions of freshwater fish to freeze to death in Bolivia.

To get an idea of how unusual this icy snap is, you just have to take a look at the weather records of Argentina's capital Buenos Aires. It's snowed there three times since 1918 -- and two of those dustings have taken place in the past month. (The other was in July 2007). But while the city has gotten off relatively lightly during the current big freeze -- it's only experienced a light spattering of snow so far -- the country's Andean and Patagonian provinces have been buried under 3 feet of snow. Dozens of villages have been cut off by the vast drifts, which have killed an unknown number of livestock and ruined thousands of acres of crops.

Snow on a collapsed shed in Alto Rio Senguer, Argentina, n July 26, 2010.

Defensa Civil Alto Rio Senguer / AP

This shed collapsed under the weight of snow left by a week of blizzards in Alto Rio Senguer, Argentina, in late July. Snows from an unusually harsh winter have isolated dozens of villages in Argentina.

To cope with this blast of icy Antarctic weather, Argentinians have cranked up their home heating systems, sending electricity demand to a new high. MercoPress reports that this record-breaking surge in demand caused a blackout that forced hundreds of industries to temporarily shut down.

The past week has also seen unprecedented amounts of snow fall across Brazil's southernmost state of Rio Grande do Sul. Local TV stations have shown pictures of a thin white coating on the ground -- which counts as a drift by the tropical country's standards. Brazzil magazine noted that locals had been spotted making snowmen, and claimed that the state's metropolises were starting to resemble European cities in winter.

Bolivia and Chile have taken more of a beating. Temperatures in the eastern Bolivian province of Santa Cruz have repeatedly dropped below 32 degrees Fahrenheit during the past month -- the coldest temperatures there in half a century, according to UPI -- causing an estimated 6 million fish in the Grande, Pirai and Ichilo rivers to freeze to death. The province's governor has advised locals not to drink from the polluted water, in case they fall ill.

And Chile's capital Santiago had an average temperature of just over 42 degrees last month, according to the University of Chile, making it the city's chilliest July since 1908. The Santiago Times said one in three city dwellers had suffered a respiratory illnesses in the past four weeks -- which could have been caused by the increased use of shoddy gas or coal heaters, as well as exposure to the cold -- and reported that a record frost had wrecked avocado, orange and lemon crops. The paper says exports of these fruits are now expected to fall by up to 40 percent.