Extreme heat hits South America

Weather 

 

Extreme heat in South America: Hottest nights ever in Paraguay 

 

Lovisa Dehlin  

 

Published 2023-11-13 20.29  

 

Extreme hot air keeps the temperature up in South America - around the clock.  

 

The lowest temperature in Mariscal Estigarribia in Paraguay was 34 degrees on Saturday. 

 

- It will continue to be really hot for quite a while, says Lasse Rydqvist, meteorologist at Klart.se.  

 

Brazil, Argentina, Paraguay and Bolivia have all had the warmest nights ever recorded in their respective countries.  

 

The reason is the warm air that originally comes in from the Atlantic. 

 

- What makes it this very hot and that it stays is because of the high pressure that lies over a large part of South America. It helps to retain the warm air at the same time that low pressure does not manage to get in and push it away, says Lasse Rydqvist. 

 

34 degrees as low 

 

Already during Saturday, the South American record was broken, but last night it was broken again. The lowest temperature during the day was then 34.0 degrees in Mariscal Estigarribia in Paraguay.  

 

The previous record was 32.2 for all of South America. 

 

- Many times heat records are broken by perhaps 0.1–0.3 degrees. So now there is a big margin against previous records, says Lasse Rydqvist. 

 

 

A man cools off on the beach of Ipenema in Brazil, September 24. Photo: Bruna Prado / AP 

 

46 degrees at the highest  

 

The new record in Paraguay is also the second highest minimum temperature ever recorded in the world. The global record is 35.0 degrees in minimum temperature in one day, which was measured in Australia in 1965. 

 

 - In Argentina yesterday, the maximum temperature was 46 degrees. It is also a record for many stations, but there will be no heat records for maximum temperatures, even if they are extremely high values. 

  

 

People wear masks to protect themselves from smoke from forest fires during a heat wave, in Brazil.  

Image from October 12. Photo: Edmar Barros / AP 

 

No lower temperatures in sight  

 

The high temperatures seem to be here to stay. 

 

- It will continue to be very hot for quite some time. At least all week. They haven't really brightened yet, says Lasse Rydqvist.

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