How Mexico's Past Heat Waves Reveal a Climate Crisis
Mexico's heat waves are a decades-long problem, worsening due to global warming. From the 1990s to 2024, cities faced scorching temperatures, causing health risks, water shortages and ecological damage.
Over the years, high temperatures have had a significant impact in different regions of Mexico. The following are some of the events that occurred in the last decade of the last century and the first decade of the 21st century. Likewise, we recall that their effects were recorded and are comparative references of those occurring today. This phenomenon has caused the devastation of Mexico's ecosystem and natural resources, affecting the population.
June 10, 1993: state of alert in the north of the country
On June 10, 1993, a state of alert was declared in Nuevo Laredo and an emergency in the Comarca Lagunera due to extreme temperatures that reached 43 degrees Celsius (that's 109.4 degrees Fahrenheit for our non-metric friends). Coahuila and Nuevo León faced severe drought conditions, dams were at minimum levels in Nuevo León, Tamaulipas, Morelos and San Luis Potosí.
In Nuevo Laredo, Tamaulipas, high temperatures led to an increase in cases of dehydration, causing hospitals to receive between 25 and 35 people per day with health problems related to the extreme weather. In San Luis Potosí, at least 55 children died due to gastrointestinal and diarrheal diseases caused by the heat. The drought also severely affected agriculture and livestock, with the loss of 20,000 cattle in Coahuila and the destruction of six million hectares of crops in Nuevo León.
April 14, 1998: drought in San Luis Potosí
In April 1998, San Luis Potosí suffered an intense drought with temperatures reaching 40 degrees Celsius (104 degrees Fahrenheit). The situation caused a severe shortage of drinking water and led the State Civil Protection Council to implement an emergency water distribution program in collaboration with the three levels of government. Of the 58 municipalities, half were in a state of alarm due to this issue.
May 8, 1998: hottest day in Mexico City
On May 8, 1998, what was then the highest temperature in the history of Mexico City was recorded, 34.4 degrees Celsius (34.4 degrees Fahrenheit). This record surpassed the previous record of 33.8 degrees on May 10, 1927. During the first week of May, temperatures in the city remained above historic highs.
May 10, 1998: Deaths in Nuevo León
In Apodaca, Nuevo León, temperatures exceeded 45 degrees Celsius (113 degrees Fahrenheit), which caused the death of four people, the victims were a baby and three elderly adults. The victims lived in houses made of sheet metal, a material that exacerbates the heat, which contributed to the health complications. On the same date in Xalapa, Veracruz, high temperatures were also recorded, reaching 37 degrees Celsius at 9:00 in the morning.
April 2, 2000: heat in Hidalgo
On April 2, 2000, Hidalgo recorded temperatures between 29 and 39 degrees (102.2 degrees Fahrenheit), one of the most affected municipalities was Tepeji del Río with 39 degrees. At that time, despite the heat, water supply was not a problem, since the dams were at 80% of their capacity. However, in the Huasteca Hidalguense, the springs began to dry up, causing a lack of drinking water in homes. The increase in temperature was attributed to a thermal low located in the center of the country, associated with high pressure that affected central and southeastern Mexico. In that year, temperatures above 35 degrees Celsius were expected for the month of April.
April 16, 2007: heat wave in Yucatán
In April 2007, temperatures between 39 and 42.5 degrees Celsius (108.5 degrees Fahrenheit) were recorded in Yucatan, with notable intensity in Merida, Valladolid and Progreso. This weather phenomenon coincided with strong winds and high tides on the coasts. The situation led the Yucatan Scientific Research Center, together with the National Water Commission (CNA), to initiate studies on global warming due to concerns about high temperatures in the region. As a preventive measure, the State Health Secretariat distributed medicines to treat gastrointestinal problems that the population faced due to the extreme heat.
The heat waves that have hit the population recently may seem to be a new phenomenon. However, they are the consequence of decades of industrialization, which have contributed to global warming. According to data from the European Commission, “human-induced global warming is currently increasing at a rate of 0.2 °C per decade”.
Rising temperatures are due to the production of greenhouse gases, including carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, chlorofluorocarbons and water vapor. These emissions come from human activities such as coal, oil and gas combustion, deforestation, livestock development, the use of nitrogen-containing fertilizers and the emission of fluorinated gases.
As a result, temperatures have reached record highs every year. For example, on May 9, 2024, Mexico City recorded a temperature of 34.4 °C (90.4 °F). Other cities also experienced extreme temperatures: Toluca 33.6 °C, Cuernavaca 39.8 °C, Ciudad Victoria 47.4 °C, Mérida 43.7 °C, Campeche 45.1 °C, Progreso 44.2 °C, Torreón 44 °C, Puebla 35.2 °C, and Querétaro 38.9 °C.
The increase in temperatures in Mexico and the world is a documented historical problem since the first half of the 20th century to the present day. This phenomenon has affected ecosystems, natural resources and the health of the population; therefore, it is important to prevent the advance of global warming and implement urgent measures to mitigate climate threats and protect life on earth.
Newspapers are a fundamental source of information to investigate issues that have impacted the population over the years, since their function is to communicate critical events at the time of publication. High temperatures are a recurring theme in these media. Therefore, its research can be carried out through various collections of the General Archive of the Nation.
So, what's the takeaway? Mexico's scorching past is a warning sign for the future. We need to embrace renewable energy, ditch the deforestation habits, and find ways to live more sustainably. Otherwise, we might just find ourselves permanently stuck in a heat wave with no escape in sight. Let's turn down the thermostat on global warming before things get any hotter than a habanero pepper on a summer day!
Source: Archivo General de la Nación. “Episodios de altas temperaturas en la historia de México.” gob.mx, http://www.gob.mx/agn/es/articulos/episodios-de-altas-temperaturas-en-la-historia-de-mexico?idiom=es. Accessed 22 July 2024.
