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Heat Index in Rio de Janeiro hits 137.3 degrees Fahrenheit. [1]
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Date: 2023-11-17
More than a hundred million people in Brazil endure extraordinary and lethal temperatures. The heat index, a combination of temperature and humidity, shattered records in Rio de Janeiro with 108.5 degrees and a feel-like temperature of 137.3 F.
The gobsmacking temperatures are a November heat record for the sprawling city of Rio de Janeiro, which has approximately fourteen million people.
Red health alerts have been posted for thousands of cities across the nation. There was no cooling relief for the bodies of wildlife and humans during the night as temperatures hovered around 90 degrees F.
Favela’s (shacks), located in the upslope of Rio, has little to no air conditioning. ’Problems with electricity in favelas are chronic and emerged along with the favelas themselves. The State fails by delivering low-quality service, and residents, improvising, end up overloading grids and making the entire favela population suffer as a result. People spend days without electricity in their homes, food and appliances are lost, and according to residents, all of this gets worse in summer.’ rioonwatch.org/...
It is spring in the Southern Hemisphere, and all signs point to a brutal summer for South America, Australia, South Asia, and Africa.
Meanwhile, heat records remain set in many parts of the Northern Hemisphere. Ocean sea surface temperatures are at record highs for the seventh straight month, while Antarctic sea ice records are at record lows for the sixth month.
From the BBC:
Inmet has issued red alerts for a large part of the country. These indicate that temperatures may be 5C above average for longer than five days and could pose a serious danger to health. The heatwave, which comes more than a month before the beginning of summer in the southern hemisphere, has seen Brazil's energy consumption soar to record levels as people try to keep themselves cool. Inmet research released last week showed that the average temperature in the country had been above the historical average from July to October. Extreme weather is becoming more frequent and more intense in many places around the world because of climate change. According to scientists, heatwaves are becoming longer and more intense in many places and this is expected to continue whilst humans keep releasing planet-warming greenhouse gases. Meanwhile, the Earth is currently in an El Niño weather phase, during which time global temperatures typically increase.
Due to drought in the Amazon, grain shipments via the Rio Negro and other Amazon tributaries have slowed to a trickle. Meanwhile, freshwater supplies for local communities dry up.
A severe drought in the Amazon region is disrupting grain shipments more than anticipated, according to one of Brazil’s top barge operators. Unable to move its barges filled with products like corn and soybeans, Hidrovias do Brasil SA is forecasting lower results for this year than previously predicted, company executives said on an earnings call Tuesday. “The situation escalated very abruptly,” Chief Executive Officer Fabio Abreu Schettino said. The company operates along a route known as the Northern Arc, an array of ports along the Amazon and northeastern Atlantic coast that transport crops from farms in central Brazil. According to the company’s own measurements at one of the rivers in the region, water levels are about 40% lower than they were in the same period last year.
x El Niño-related intensification of #drought in northern Brazil in the last 3 months, according to @CopernicusECMWF ERA5 data.
Drought has expanded south recently into Mato Grosso, Brazil's leading #soybean state. pic.twitter.com/wsiMtQm0MG — World Climate Service (@WorldClimateSvc) November 9, 2023
x #Brazil🇧🇷 is facing an unprecedented #drought that has dire consequences for its people, economy, and wildlife. 🌳
💧 The Amazon, which holds 20% of the planet's freshwater, sees rivers at record lows caused by #ElNino.
🤝See the drought monitoring maps on Windy made in great… pic.twitter.com/rYpAvP1X4v — Windy.com (@Windycom) November 16, 2023
Brazil’s wildlife is suffering horribly from drought, heat, and wildfire.
Poconã, Brazil — The Pantanal wetlands in western Brazil are famed as a paradise of biodiversity, but these days they have enormous clouds of smoke billowing over them, as raging wildfires reduce vast expanses to scorched earth. Known for its lush landscapes and vibrant wildlife, including jaguars, caimans, macaws and monkeys, the Pantanal is home to the world's biggest tropical wetlands and, in normal times, a thriving ecotourism industry. But in recent weeks it has been ravaged by fires that are threatening its iconic wildlife, as Brazil suffers through a southern hemisphere spring of droughts and record heat.
In early October, there was a mass mortality event of freshwater pink dolphins due to exceptionally warm Amazon river water; up to ten percent of the local population died.
x VIDEO: Manaus, the largest city in Brazil's Amazonas state, has for days been engulfed by a toxic cloud of smoke from forest fires lit by what the government labeled "criminals". pic.twitter.com/WoU8tQUAjY — AFP News Agency (@AFP) November 17, 2023
Monga Bay on climate change role with fires in the Pantanal.
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