Dry, Yet Storm-Battered Cuba Tries to Feed Itself Amid Climate Extremes

A battered Soviet-era Moskvitch car made its way down a dirt road in the National Research Institute on Tropical Roots and Tubers' (INIVIT) 200-acre compound.  The sun shone brightly through the windshield, and, though the windows were completely rolled down, the air inside the car grew stuffy and hot. It's not what you'd expect in western Cuba in April. According to official numbers, the average rainfall for the month of March at the institute is 63 millimeters, but this year saw 4.8 millimeters. Additionally, there was an increase in average maximum temperature of 1.5 degrees Celsius compared with the long-term March average.  But despite the abnormal weather, the crops at the INIVIT seemed to be thriving.

Dry, Yet Storm-Battered Cuba Tries to Feed Itself Amid Climate Extremes