Tropical City: Buenos Aires?

I´ve always loved Buenos Aires' nickname, "The Paris of the Palmtrees" ...but this is getting rediculous!

Nobel Prize winner, Dr. Osvaldo Canziani says that the city has lost its temperate climate or is losing it fast due to climate change. The good doctor (MD, Ph.D meteorology) points to warming ocean temperatures in the normally cold South Atlantic which have an affect on the level of the enormous Río de la Plata where the city is situated. This, in turn, has affected rain and wind patterns as well as temperatures.

"The heat wave we are experiencing is part of this big change," he told Buenos Aires' biggest newspaper El Clarin. January in Buenos Aires is the traditional time of the "semana brava" or "tough week" of high daytime temperatures along with elevated overnight lows.

On average, however, the year-round average temperature in the city is 68º F ...with a range well within 32º and 100º. This week has seen temperatures in the city rise to consecutive days of 100º F.

"Over the past 100 years, the city's average temperature rose 3.24 degrees Fahrenheit. The change most striking is a 4.86 degree rise in the minimum temperature during this same time," says Clarin.

Dr. Canziani warns of increased flooding for the city located at the corner of the world's widest esturary and the Atlantic. He goes on to mention the spread of tropical diseases that have not been reported here before. His prescription is for a change of lifestyle in order to mitigate levels of greenhouse gases emitted by the enormous capital city of more than 13 million people.