A scorching winter: Argentina's capital breaks record for hottest start to August in 117 years

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina -

It was an unusually scorching winter day in Buenos Aires Tuesday, with thermometers in Argentina's capital crossing the 30-degree Celsius mark (86 degrees Fahrenheit), the hottest start of August in 117 years of records, according to the country's National Meteorological Service.

Temperatures in the South American country's capital reached 30.1 degrees Celsius on Tuesday, beating the previous record for the first day of August by more than five degrees. The previous hottest Aug. 1 was set in 1942, when temperatures reached 24.6 degrees Celsius (76.3 degrees Fahrenheit).

Tuesday also marked the first time since 2014 that the 30-degree mark was crossed during the Southern Hemisphere's winter. The previous time that happened was on Aug. 21, 2014, according to the National Meteorological Service.

"We are experiencing very warm conditions in the central and northern regions of Argentina," said Cindy Fernandez, a spokesperson for the National Meteorological Service. "There were values in general that were 10 to 15 degrees above what is normal for this time of year."

The median maximum temperature for Argentina's capital in August is 18 degrees Celsius (64.4 degrees Fahrenheit) with a median minimum of 9 degrees Celsius (48.2 degrees Fahrenheit), according to the National Meteorological Service.

The record broken Tuesday comes after weeks in which much of Argentina experienced a relatively mild winter.

The high temperatures arrive within "a context where we are experiencing a winter that, in general, is being very warm," Fernandez said.

"The number of cold events we've had this winter has been very few, scarce, and the few times we had cold air outbreaks, they lasted for a very short period," she added.

Argentina's hottest temperature Tuesday afternoon was recorded in the town of Rivadavia in the northern Salta province, where the thermometer hit 37.2 degrees Celsius (98 degrees Fahrenheit) in mid afternoon.

Temperatures are expected to start decreasing Wednesday afternoon in central Argentina, including the capital, Buenos Aires, but in northern Argentina the "cold air is not going to arrive, and we will continue to have warm temperatures throughout this week until the weekend, with temperatures surpassing 30 degrees almost every day," Fernandez said.

From central Argentina to the north, temperatures are likely to remain warmer than average for the rest of the Southern Hemisphere winter and the beginning of spring, Fernandez added.