Havana, Jan 16 (Prensa Latina) Contrary to the traditional expression that Cuba is an eternal summer that convinces foreign visitors, for natives, the phrase 'the monkey is whistling' prevails today.

The phrase, which dates back to the 19th century and even further back and has several versions about its origin, is the most used by Cubans when in the usually mild winter of the Caribbean nation, the thermometers drop lower than most people would like.

And so it happened last weekend and especially in the early hours of Sunday morning or this Monday, when 40 of the 68 weather stations in the country reported at 04:00 local time, minimum temperatures below 10 degrees Celsius, and of them, eight were equal to or below five degrees.

The lowest temperature, indicated the Meteorology Institute (Insmet), was 1.5 degrees Celsius at the Indio Hatuey station, in the western province of Matanzas.

But the most striking feature of this day was the cold that extended to the easternmost region of the island, where usually, when in the west Cubans are shivering, inhabitants of the other side of the island continue to fan themselves with temperatures that, in the middle of winter, exceed 30 degrees Celsius.

This Monday, the situation was quite different and, for example, the Jíquima station in Holguín province reported 7.4 degrees, in the hot city of Manzanillo it dropped to 9.9 and in the town of Yateras even more, as it reached 6.9, which according to experts may set a record in Granma province for January.

In Havana city, the lowest value was -as almost always- in Santiago de las Vegas, in the area of the José Martí International Airport, where the mercury column contracted to 7.9 degrees.

Insmet warned that the mass of cold and dry air coming from the north is the cause of the low temperatures in the early hours of the day.

Although in the capital and the rest of the country the sun is shining, it is not warming up as usual, so most went out ‘wrapped up’ to work or school and there was no shortage of those who pulled out scarves and gloves from deep in the closets.