The story of the hottest day in the City of Buenos Aires: eleven dead when the thermometer marked 43.3º
Society
In a suit and without air conditioning
It happened on Tuesday, January 29, 1957. The heat wave, according to the chronicles of that time, had begun two days before, with temperatures that touched forty degrees. In addition to the fatalities, about a hundred people had to be treated by assistance services. The filmic record of a scorching day.
A heat wave will settle this week in the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires and surroundings and the expected temperatures, which will touch 40 degrees, worry more than one. Specialists recommend, among other measures, wearing light and loose clothing and staying in air-conditioned environments. However, it was in 1957 , when the houses did not have the comfortable refrigeration device, when the city generated the highest maximum in its history since there is a record . How did the porteños and porteñas of that time live it?
On Tuesday, January 29, 1957 , the City of Buenos Aires reached a maximum of 43.3 degrees, a historical record that became the headline of the main newspapers of the time. The heat wave, the chronicles of that time, had begun on Sunday , with a maximum of 39.5 degrees , and had continued on Monday , with 39.3 , with a forecast to continue on Tuesday.
At that time, the meteorological station made four daily measurements: 3 and 9 in the morning and then at 3 and 9 p.m. That Tuesday, January 29, according to information provided by the National Meteorological Service, during the early morning the temperature was 28 .2 degrees. Six hours later, with clear skies, the thermometer already reached 33.6°. When the clock struck 3 p.m. and the sky had finally clouded over, the record figure was finally decreed: 43.3 degrees of real temperature (at that time the wind chill was not indicated) . At night, with the sky clear of clouds and thanks to the change in wind from the southeast, the temperature dropped several degrees and settled at 29º.
According to the newspaper La Nación at the time, "the torrid day" caused "numerous inconveniences in different parts of this city and the interior of the country" and eleven "fatal cases of sunstroke." In addition to the tragic toll, nearly a hundred people were treated by assistance services due to the effects of the heat.
The film and photographic records of the time show porteños cooling off in pools, fountains, with ice, with a drink. The Municipal Spa and the Balneario de Núñez received thousands of people on January 29 with the desire to cool off. A video from the General Archive of the Nation also portrays some men wearing dress pants, as was used then, but bare-chested, without shirts or t-shirts.
According to SMN data, the second highest real temperature in the City was 40.5 degrees and was recorded twice, on December 18, 1995 and January 31, 1935 . The third mark belongs to January 18, 1943 with a temperature of 40.3°. In the country, meanwhile, the hottest day in history occurred on January 2, 1920, when measurements reached 49.1 degrees in Villa de María del Río Seco, in Córdoba.
If you got here...
It is because you are interested in rigorous information, because you value having another look beyond the daily bombardment of the vast majority of the media. Page/12 has a commitment of more than 30 years with her and counts on you to renew it every day. I defended the other look.
I defended your voice.
