STORY: Cubans pulled on light jackets, scarves and woolly hats on Wednesday (February 4) as an unusual cold snap swept through the island, sending residents to bundle up on city streets, where T-shirts are more common than winter wear.

Cuba's Institute of Meteorology said a weather station in Indio Hatuey, Matanzas province, officially registered 0 degrees Celsius on Tuesday (February 3), the first time the country has hit the freezing point in national meteorological records.

On Wednesday, pedestrians, even pets, huddled in jackets, scarves, and caps, bracing against the unexpected chill.

The institute attributed the sharp drop to an intense cold front that dragged a mass of polar air from North America into the Caribbean.

The Cuban meteorological body said the previous national record dates to 1996, when 0.6 °C was reported at the Bainoa station in Mayabeque province, east of Havana.

DESCRIPCIÓN DE IMÁGENES

VIDEO SHOWS: CUBANS WEARING SWEATERS, JACKETS, AND WOOL CAPS / SOUNDBITES FROM HAVANA RESIDENTS

RESENDING WITH COMPLETE STORY

SHOWS: HAVANA, CUBA (FEBRUARY 4, 2026) (REUTERS - Access all)

1. PEOPLE WEARING COATS AND JACKETS AND WALKING ALONG PIER

2. EMPTY PIER

3. MAN SITTING ON PIER WALL

4. PEOPLE WEARING COATS AND WALKING ALONG PIER

5. HAVANA RESIDENT, LORENZO GILBERT, WEARING COAT AND WOOLLY HAT AND WALKING IN STREET

6. (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) HAVANA RESIDENT, LORENZO GILBERT, SAYING:

"A record was set, it even froze, when the temperature dropped to zero degrees there (referring to the record low temperature of 0 degrees Celsius in Indio Hatuey, Matanzas). And then, you know, we Cubans can be considered cowards because we are not adapted to that cold. Our climate has always been tropical. We live in an eternal summer, as they say here, that Cuba is an eternal summer. You come here at that time (winter), in the past, even in December, you would go to the beach. You can't go anymore if this has caused, you know, a tremendous sensation. So everyone is staying indoors. From early in the morning, you see all the doors and balconies closed, and you say to yourself, ‘My goodness, Cubans are really afraid of the cold!’ It's not that we're afraid of it, it's that we're not prepared for it."

7. HAVANA RESIDENT, ANA CASTILLO, WALKING WITH HER DOG PAQUITO AND FRIENDS

8. DOG PAQUITO WEARING COAT

9. CASTILLO WALKING AND CARRYING HER DOG PAQUITO

10. (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) HAVANA RESIDENT, ANA CASTILLO, SAYING:

"I've always kept him warm. He has his little blanket, his little bed, but it's been so cold that he's moved into my bed. And he sleeps with me. He's been sleeping with me all these days.”

11. VEHICLES DRIVING IN STREET

12. WOMAN WEARING COAT AND SCARF AT AVENUE

13. VARIOUS OF PEOPLE WEARING WOOLLY HATS

14. (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) HAVANA RESIDENT, ANNELYS LARA, SAYING:

"The temperature change has been quite noticeable. My husband and I ride our bikes all over Havana, and we have felt it. You can feel the difference. At home, we've had to take precautions to keep the house closed, keep hot water so that the environment stays as favorable as possible, dress the girls warmly for school... That's how it is."

15. MAN WEARING SCARF

16. VEHICLES IN STREET

17. PEOPLE WEARING LIGHT JACKETS WALKING IN STREET