The misfortunes for Cubans do not come alone. To the endless days of power outages, which this Wednesday reached a new historical record, and the soaring inflation that continues to hit wallets, are now added extreme temperatures, with readings that will be noted in the country’s climatic history.
The Ignacio Agramonte International Airport, located in Albaiza, Camagüey, recorded a maximum temperature of 38.1 degrees Celsius this Wednesday, setting a new record for this station, according to specialist Yosmelvi Páez Cornell.
The measurement took place on the same day that the National Climate Center (CENCLIM) certified another record of 37.2 °C at the weather station in the municipality of Camagüey, evidence that extreme heat was spreading throughout the territory.
There are two different observatories: the record of 38.1 °C corresponds to the airport station, while the 37.2 °C was measured at the municipal station; both temperatures set records for their respective observation points.
In this last measurement, the recorded temperature was 36.0 °C and dated back to July 8, 1963. The new value surpassed it by 1.2 degrees after remaining unchanged for 63 years.
The Provincial Meteorological Center explained that these records are not automatically officialized. Each entry must be verified by CENCLIM through a review of the procedures used during the observation, the conditions of the instruments, and the experience of the meteorological observer.
As temperatures rise, millions of Cubans endure the hottest hours of the day without fans, refrigerators, or the ability to keep water cold, due to power outages that can last for nearly the entire day.
The combination of extreme heat and power outages made this Wednesday particularly oppressive: the Electric Union forecasted an impact of 2,380 MW during peak hours, equivalent to leaving about 74% of the country without service simultaneously.
The new brand from Camagüey is part of a series of extreme events recorded in Cuba over the past few years.
In June, the La Palma station reached 37.6 °C and broke three simultaneous records in Pinar del Río, including a provincial record that had stood for 68 years.
In May 2025, the Veguitas station in Granma reported 37.1 °C, one of the highest temperatures recorded that day in the country.
The most alarming precedent occurred in April 2024, when Jucarito, also in Granma, recorded 40.1 °C and set the absolute record for maximum temperature in Cuba.
Just a month later, the municipality of Bolivia, in Ciego de Ávila, reached exactly 40 °C, marking the second time that Cuban thermometers have hit that milestone since the beginning of meteorological records.
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