Faced with a heat wave in the middle of winter, it is the Brazil as in Sao Paulo it is expected to break today double record for highest temperature: for the month of August and for 2023.

The inhabitants of the largest city in Latin America, which has 11.5 million inhabitantsare facing temperatures almost 10 degrees Celsius above the average for the season of 24.5 degrees, according to the National Institute of Meteorology (Inmet).

The thermometer showed yesterday Wednesday 32.3 degrees Celsius, very close to the 32.5 degrees recorded on January 16, the hottest day this year in Sao Paulo. Besides, yesterday’s temperature came close to the record recorded for the month of August: 33.1 degrees Celsius on August 31 in 1952 and 1955.

According to Inmet, today may be even hotter.

“In the future, winters will probably get warmer and warmer”said Fabio Luis Teixeira professor of Atmospheric Sciences at the University of Sao Paulo.

According to scientists, these high temperatures are due to climate change but also in the El Niño phenomenon.

“Today we are recording temperatures five degrees higher than average in some regions or cities of Brazil,” Inmet meteorologist Cleber Souza.

Souza also warned of high temperatures in the state of Mato Grosso (central west), which will approach 41 degrees Celsius, but also in the north and northeast of the country, where the mercury will approach 40 degrees.

The authorities of the state of São Paulo, where higher than normal temperatures and reduced rainfall have been recorded since July, spoke of increased risk of fires.

The southern part of Latin America is recording record heat in the middle of winter this year.

Heat waves are starting earlier, lasting longer and becoming more intense due to climate change, said John Nairn, an expert on extreme heat at the World Meteorological Organization. “They will become more and more intense and more frequent,” he added, complaining that people are facing the prospect “with too much composure.”