In the last 10 days it snowed in Mendoza twice the average records for this time of year

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Good forecast for the Mendoza river basins

Beyond the inconveniences caused by the storm, from the Superintendency of Irrigation and the Argentine Institute of Nivology, Glaciology and Environmental Sciences (Ianigla) warn that the situation is more than auspicious in the context of drought, which affected the amount of water in the province’s basins in recent years.

The Superintendent of Irrigation, Sergio Marinelli explained that the measurements from the high mountain stations have not yet been processed, but There is more snow accumulation than in previous years.

“At the beginning of the year, there was little chance of it being a good year, but so far it’s going very well.”added the Mendoza water governor.

The Ianigla researcher, Pierre Pitte, stated: “We have twice as much snow as normal for this time of year.” and this is very auspicious, but We are just beginning winter, there is still a long way to go”.

However, he observed that with the end of the El Niño phenomenon, “what most of the forecasts are seeing is that for the second half of the year the Niña conditions will come and not necessarily this amount of snow is what would continue in the next few months”.

The glacier expert stressed that for conservation, not only what happens in the winter is important, but also in the summer, in which heat waves produced the formation of lagoons in Aconcagua and a sector had to be closed for mountaineers who wanted to reach the summit.

“We come from 15 years of rainfall that has been close to half the averagein most of the basins of the province and there is a very large deficit that is a trend,” he added.

A new cold front enters Mendoza and snowfall spreads in Mendoza

The meteorologist Federico North He anticipated that it is very possible that in the remaining week of June there will be two passages of segregated lows associated with troughs with rain and snowfall throughout the mountain range.

“The El Niño Phenomenon is saying goodbye, but with intense snowfall in the mountain range and it is good that this happens at the beginning of winter because the cold will continue,” he highlighted.

Starting Monday, a cold front so maximum temperatures will not exceed 10°.

For his part, the National Metereological Service predicted that this week, the coldest day will be Tuesday with a record of 1° minimum and 7° maximum.

On Monday there will be a minimum of 2° and a maximum that will only reach 7°. On Wednesday the temperature will only rise a little more, with a minimum that remains at 2° and a maximum of 12°.

On Thursday the temperature rises to a maximum of 16° and the minimum remains at 6° and on Friday the temperature drops again with a maximum that will remain at 10° and the minimum also decreases to 5°.

After the abundant snowfalls there were avalanches that forced the closure of routes

The Municipality of Malargüe and National Roads reported the closure of route 222, after several avalanches occurred.

Due to the rainfall, these roads will remain closed until Monday included.

An accumulation of more than 2 meters of snow is estimated at the base between Los Molles and Las Leñas. Meanwhile, Provincial Route 226 to the El Azufre – Malargüe Complex, where there is already 3 meters of snow at the base, and Provincial Route 220, in El Sosneado, San Rafael, will also remain closed.

On this point, Pitte specified days ago that when high mountain areas are closed it is because there is maximum alert for avalanches, which are almost always caused by human action and modification of the terrain.

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