Ten cities in Mexico, including the capital, have registered record high temperatures, authorities said on Friday, amid a heat wave that caused power outages across the country and pushed the power grid to the brink, UNN reports citing Reuters.
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In the highland capital of Mexico City, North America's largest metropolis, usually with a temperate climate, thermometers on Thursday showed a high of 34.3 degrees Celsius, a tenth of a degree higher than the record set just a month earlier.
Neighboring Puebla broke its previous record of 34.3°C, set in 1947, when the temperature here reached 35.2°C on Thursday.
In Ciudad Victoria, in the northern border state of Tamaulipas, opposite Texas in the United States, the temperature reached 47.4 ° C on Thursday, breaking the previous high set in 1998.
Severe heat led to power outages for several hours in parts of Mexico this week, mostly in the north, and to the suspension of classes in the central state of San Luis Potosí, where temperatures reached 50°C this week.
In a weekly report released Thursday, Mexico's health ministry reported seven heat-related fatalities this heat wave season from its start on March 17 to May 4, and that number could rise after this week's brutal heat wave.
Mexico's electricity regulator issued several warnings this week as demand in some parts of the country exceeded supply.
Business chambers and industry analysts criticized the blackouts, accusing the government of not investing in transmission networks or in generating enough electricity to meet demand.
President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, who leaves office in October, called the power outages "exceptional" and assured that Mexico has sufficient generating capacity.
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The heat wave, which occurred against the backdrop of a severe nationwide drought, has led to an exacerbation of the water crisis in most of Mexico, making water a key issue in the June elections.
Human-induced climate change and El Niño have led to rising temperatures around the world and caused deadly heat waves, the publication points out.