Historic heat wave in Brazil: the thermal sensation in Rio de Janeiro reached 58.5 °C

The heat wave that has been overwhelming much of Brazil for several days continued this Tuesday with sweltering temperatures in cities like Rio de Janeirowhere The thermal sensation reached a record of 58.5°Cthe authorities reported.

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In 15 states in the southeast, central-west and part of the north of the country, in addition to the capital, Brasiliathere is an alert from the National Institute of Meteorology (Inmet) due to extreme heat.

This Wednesday, at 9:00 AM local time, The temperature in Rio de Janeiro already exceeded 27 degrees, while companies seek emergency measures to avoid energy collapses. One of them is to call workers to their offices to escape the heat, a measure that also allows reducing air conditioning consumption in the homes of those who usually have a regime of home office.

The Rio soil has been boiling since Tuesday morning, when the Rio Alert system reported the “greatest thermal sensation since the beginning of records” in 2014, exceeding the maximum measurements of last February, around 58 °C.

The temperature climbed, meanwhile, up to 39 °Caccording to the mayor’s system.

However, it was not the city of Rio “capital of hell” hottest in the country. The peak occurred in gourdthe capital of the state of Mato Grossowhere the sensors read 44.2 degrees Celsius.

Although the population is acclimatized to this type of heat, with an average of 26 degrees and peaks above 40 in all summers, this time it is striking that spring has brought such high levels.

On your side, With 37.3 °C, Brasilia had the highest temperature of the year this Tuesday and a maximum for November since measurements began in 1962reported Inmet.

Extreme heat also hit the residents of São Paulo, where thermometers rose on average to 37.3 °C on Tuesday afternoon, with low humidity in the air, 21%, according to the Climate Emergency Management Center (CGE). ) municipal.

Dora, a 60-year-old artisan who sells her products on Paulista Avenue, was dismantling her stall covered with an umbrella under a scorching sun.

“For those of us who work on the street, it is unbearable with that heat. I try to arrive very early to leave at this time (2:00 p.m. local time), because then the sun hits and it is worse,” she told the AFP the woman, who asked that her last name not be published.

The largest metropolis in Latin America had the second hottest day in its history on Monday, registering 37.7 °C, just below the 37.8 °C recorded in October 2014.

The high temperatures, which are around 5°C above seasonal normalsthey punish the Brazilians especially since last weekend and They will remain at least until FridayInmet estimated in a bulletin issued on Monday.

The suffocation also generated a new historical record in electrical energy consumption by exceeding 101,400 megawatts, after registering on Monday a maximum since the beginning of monitoring by the National Electrical System Operator.

“The heat wave is the main reason,” the operator explained in a note.

In San Pablo, there were outages and instability in the service.

As a consequence of the phenomenon called The boyIn recent months, Brazil has suffered the impact of extreme weather, with a historic drought that has emptied rivers in the Amazon and intense rains accompanied by cyclones in the south of the country.

In addition, the fires caused mainly by human action in the Pantanal, the largest wetland in the world, have been worsened in November by an exceptional drought.