Argentina regularly receives cold air from the south that can reach low latitudes owing to the influence of the Andes. Cold waves are often accompanied with severe snow storms or extremely cold conditions that can have a devastating impact on its economy.
The Richter Scale measures the magnitude of an earthquake which is  another way of describing the energy released in the earthquake.
Richter scale [(rik-tuhr)] A scale used to rate the intensity of earthquakes. The scale is open-ended, with each succeeding level representing ten times as much energy as the last. A serious earthquake might rate six to eight, and very destructive quakes rate higher.