This was the day at the beach in Rio de Janeiro in the midst of the record heat wave throughout Brazil

In the midst of an exceptional heat wave, bathers in Rio de Janeiro They jumped into the Atlantic on Tuesday in search of relief while meteorological authorities issued a “high danger” alert.

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Temperatures reached a staggering peak wind chill of 58.5 degrees Celsius (137.3 Fahrenheit) at 9:15 local time, marking the highest numbers since 2014. Residents and visitors sought refuge on the city’s iconic beaches, braving the extreme weather conditions.

According to the River Alert System on platform X, temperatures are expected to exceed up to 13 degrees Celsius (55.4 Fahrenheit) the season average, raising concerns about the health and safety of the population.

The “high danger” alert issued by the National Institute of Meteorology covers more than half of the country, including Rio de Janeiro, and extends until Friday. The intensification of this heat wave, the fourth in Brazil this year, is attributed to the phenomenon of The boy and global warming.

The meteorologist Caetano Mancini offered a perspective on the extreme weather conditions, stating that “this new heat wave is mainly associated with a strong El Niño phenomenon that we have been observing especially since the months of June and July and has intensified. So now we are more or less reaching the peak of El Niño and he is one of the main responsible for this slightly higher temperature event in some parts of Brazil, especially near the most populated capitals, Sao Paulo and Rio de Janeiro. .

Mancini underlined the influence of climate change, noting that “the background of this whole situation is climate change, which cannot be ruled out, since it increasingly contributes to the occurrence of these extreme (temperatures).”

This Sunday, Rio de Janeiro already experienced record temperatures of 42.5 degrees Celsius (108.5 Fahrenheit), with a wind chill of 50.5 degrees. São Paulo, Brazil’s largest city, set an all-time record on Monday with an average temperature of 37.8 degrees Celsius. The city, known for its location in a mountain range at about 700 meters above sea level, was affected by a heat wave that reached unprecedented levels.

The National Institute of Meteorology issued red and orange alerts for high temperatures for fourteen states in the country. So far this year, Brazil has experienced eight heat waves, a phenomenon that meteorologists attribute to the climate crisis and the El Niño phenomenon. Current temperatures are about five degrees above usual records for this time of spring, raising concerns about the long-term impacts of the climate crisis in the region.