Snow came even earlier than expected to regions of Chile not usually experiencing heavy snow.
On Saturday, May 4, the Chilean Meteorological Directorate (DMC) issued a forecast for probable snowfall in three regions in the central zone of the country, Metropolitana, O’Higgins, and Valparaíso, beginning the afternoon of May 7, reported Latercera. However, the snow came early with heavy snow beginning to blanket large portions of the country on May 5, as witnessed by numerous videos posted on social media and shared by various news outlets, such as Yahoo News and the Anniston Star.
Unanticipated snowfall in Southern Chile resulted in the DMC issuing snow warnings in Aysé, Los Ríos, and Los Lagos regions by the afternoon of May 5, with the agency saying a “fast and intense frontal system” threatened travel and a “probability of risk in displacement due to the fall of snow.”
The DMC’s post on its X account stated (as translated from Spanish by Google):
Weather in #Chile next week: fast and intense frontal system would leave snowfall ❄️ in unusual areas
Discover the details of the forecast in the
@pamelahn
👇🏻
https://i.mtr.cool/lqrgngceyr note
The post was accompanied by the radar maps posted below:
In addition to heavy snow, the cold front delivered well below normal temperatures for the time of year, with meteored.ci reporting:
The ECMWF model gives us a detailed projection of temperatures for the coming days, and according to this, the week in several regions of Chile will have unusually low temperatures, especially in Patagonia. Here, the minimum temperatures are expected to fall below 0°C, and the maximums will not exceed 5°C, indicating a cold and frosty environment.