Brazil is hit by a record-breaking cold spell that is threatening the homeless and the crops.

With 1.4 degrees, the capital Brasília recorded the lowest temperature in its history on Thursday.

A 66-year-old homeless man died in São Paulo the day before.

São Paulo announced it would set up 2,000 additional shelters, bringing the total capacity to about 17,000.

Nevertheless, there are almost 32,000 homeless people in Brazil's economic metropolis - almost a third more than before the corona pandemic three years ago.

On the website of the weather service Inmet, the entire southern half of the map of Brazil is colored orange and is captioned: "Cold wave (danger)". Inmet warned of "possible consequences" of the cold snap and frost for agriculture in the South American country one of the largest food producers in the world.

Temperatures are extremely unusual for the time of year.

There is still a month to go before the official onset of winter.

According to Estael Sias of the weather agency Metsul, the "atypical cold spell" is due to Cyclone Yakecan, which hit southern Brazil and Uruguay.

"This cyclone is an anomaly that certainly fits with the extreme events associated with climate change," she said.