Mexico cold snap leaves nine dead

Mexico City : A wave of cold weather pummeling much of Mexico has left nine people dead, the country's health minister said on Saturday, as residents in the normally sun-baked north struggled to cope. "Since the end of last week, we have had nine deaths caused by the cold across the nation," said Jose Angel Cordova, noting the northern states were hit particularly hard. As Mexicans accustomed to clement winters took to building snowmen and throwing snowballs near the usually toasty capital, those in the north struggled with rare sub-zero temperatures. Chihuahua state -- a desert inferno most of the year -- saw temperatures plummet to -6.6 degrees Celsius (20 Fahrenheit). Coahuila, another barren state bordering the United States, saw thermometers touch -8.5 degrees Celsius (16.7 Fahrenheit), according to the National Meteorological Service. Cordova said many of the dead had succumbed to hypothermia, while some suffered from carbon monoxide poisoning as they tried to keep warm. Many homes in the country are built without central heating due to the normally mild winters. The cold also wreaked havoc with travel plans and normal routines, with flights canceled and schools in 10 of 32 states closing schools. Meteorologists said the snow and cold was set to continue for the next one to three days.
AFP (Agence France-Presse), 2010