‘Very intense’ Antarctic air to bring historic cold and snow across wide swaths of South America

A "very intense" Antarctic air mass is forecast to spread across wide swaths of South America this week, with the potential to bring historical cold and snow, MetSul warned.

The cold blast will sweep across a large portion of Argentina and reach Brazil, Paraguay, Bolivia, Uruguay, Peru, Ecuador, Colombia, and Venezuela.

“The event has the potential to be a historical record of cold and snow," MetSul wrote. Intense snowfall is expected over Uruguay and Argentina, particularly in the provinces of Santa Fe and Entre Rios.

In Brazil, snow will engulf most of Rio Grande do Sul and Santa Catarina, among other states. The areas have already been gripped by historically cold August, which led to severe frost. All-time cold records were smashed across the country during the past week.

"The drop in temperature will be felt from Wednesday (August 19) of this week in the Rio Grande do Sul, while between Thursday and Friday (August 20 and 21) it will be noticed in other Brazilian regions," said MetSul.

In Uruguay, below-freezing temperatures between -5 and -2 C (23 and 28.4 °F) are expected into Friday, with maximums between 11 to 14 °C (51.8 to 57.2 °F) into Saturday, August 22.

The weather agency noted that in Argentina, snow will not only fall in the Patagonian and Mendoza mountain ranges but will also hit parts of the country that usually sees little to no snowfall in a year.

Featured image credit: Colin Watts/Unsplash