Snow in July Kills 75,000 Farm Animals in Peru

Peru (HDW) September 11, 2004 - As winter settled over the Southern Hemisphere, South America was been lashed with snow, heavy rain and intense cold, starting in late June 2004. In southern Peru, heavy snow collapsed hundreds of homes and buildings, and killed over 75,000 farm animals. The country struggled to provide emergency provisions to people in the poverty-stricken region, many of whom were treated for cold-related illnesses such as pneumonia. In many mountain regions, the temperature plummeted to -20 Celsius (-4 Fahrenheit). The cold weather also caused deaths in Argentina and Chile. Unusually cold temperatures, down to -7 Celsius (19.4 Fahrenheit), chilled southern Brazil.

NASA researchers, including Dr. Jacques Descloitres of the NASA MODIS Land Rapid Response Team located at Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland have been tracking these events in other parts of the world. This picture, acquired on July 13, 2004, shows the snow in the mountains of southern Peru and northern Chile and Bolivia. Unlike the clouds that litter the scene, the snow clings to the contours of the mountain peaks. The large lake sitting on the border of Peru and Bolivia in this picture is Lake Titicaca.