Quintana Roo State, where Cancun, Playa del Carmen and Tulum are located, will experience temperatures of more than 41C (106F) over the next 10 days, according to weather experts.
Juan Vázquez Montalvo, weather forecaster at Autonomous University of Yucatan, informed that this week the entire Yucatan peninsula will be impacted by temperatures not seen in more than 50 years.
“It’s important that people take this situation very seriously by exercising precautions to protect themselves from very high temperatures. These weather conditions have not been seen in more than 50 years, so we are in uncharted territory,” he said.
These adverse weather conditions may result in people suffering from heat strokes. If that happens to you or your companions, make sure to cool the patient’s body temperature and keep them hydrated.
According to the National Meteorological Service (SMN), daytime temperatures will range from 39 (102F) to 41 (106F) in Quintana Roo.
Other states such as Campeche, Tabasco, and Veracruz, will have temperatures above 45C (113F).
At night, people will have to deal with temperatures as high as 26C (79F), plus lots of humidity and no rain.
“The influx of humidity from the Caribbean Sea and the Gulf of Mexico continues towards the peninsular region and the State of Quintana Roo. It will maintain partially cloudy skies with increasing cloudiness during the course of the day with little chance of rain,” the SMN said this weekend.
This “second” heatwave is caused by “an anticyclonic circulation of the atmosphere,” reported the State Coordination of Civil Protection.
For tomorrow, Tuesday, the SMN forecasts a thermal sensation of over 50C (122F), with no possibility of rain.
If you are thinking: “I’ve got AC, no problem,” that might not save you.
During the first heatwave dated mid-April, when temperatures reached 40C (104F), 18 states across Mexico experienced a blackout, including Quintana Roo, due to the “high demand for power.”
For more than two hours, some Cancun and Playa del Carmen neighborhoods didn’t have electricity, then operations returned to normal.
A situation like that can happen again if too much stress is put on the country’s CFE (Federal Electricity Commission), said the energy organization.