Highlights: Brazil: with more than 62 degrees felt, Rio is suffocating under unprecedented heat. Local authorities call for avoiding prolonged exposure to the sun and staying hydrated. In São Paulo, the largest city in South America with double the population of Rio, more than 12 million, Saturday was the hottest day of the year. There is a synergy between human-caused climate change and natural climate oscillations, such as El Niño, in tropical South America, says Davide Faranda, director of climatology research at CNRS.

Brazil is suffocating and the heat wave that has affected Latin America since the start of the year has caused the temperature felt to rise to the record level of 62.3°C in Rio de Janeiro this weekend. THE…

Brazil: with more than 62 degrees felt, Rio is suffocating under unprecedented heat

Local authorities call for avoiding prolonged exposure to the sun and staying hydrated.

View of a beach in Rio during the heatwave, March 17, 2024. AFP - TERCIO TEIXEIRA

By: RFI with AFP

The heat

wave

that has affected Latin America since the start of the year caused the felt temperature to rise to a record high of 62.3°C in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil this weekend, as rain threatened in the south of the country.

These 62 degrees far exceeded the approximately 42°C displayed by the thermometer on Sunday March 18.

What does this temperature feel like?

And what impact can this have on the body?

“

It is the combination of temperature measured by a thermometer and humidity.
So, this is the temperature as our body is capable of feeling it.
We know that the sensation of temperature is not determined only by this value, but also by humidity

”

explains Davide Faranda, director of climatology research at the CNRS, speaking to

Pauline Gleize

, from the RFI environment department.

More humid air

When it's hot, the air can hold more moisture than at lower temperatures.

And if humidity is taken into account in the calculation of the temperature felt, it is because it has an impact on our ability to sweat, which is important when it is hot.

“

The body that cannot sweat cannot self-regulate its temperature.
It's overheating.
If the body cannot return to a working temperature and humidity compatible with perspiration, this can lead to serious health consequences and even death

,” he continues.

It is difficult to indicate a threshold limit.

It depends on each person, their age and their state of health.

A threshold limit is all the more difficult to define, underlines Davide Faranda, as the calculations of this “

felt temperature

” can vary.

Emblematic of Rio, the beaches of Ipanema and Copacabana were packed with people on Sunday.

Many have also found refuge in Tijuca Park, a real green lung in the city.

In São Paulo, the largest city in South America with double the population of Rio, more than 12 million, Saturday was the hottest day of the year with the mercury rising to 34.7° vs.

We are entering autumn in the southern hemisphere, but it continues to be marked by summer and even scorching conditions over the majority of the territory.

There is a synergy between human-caused climate change and natural climate oscillations, such as El Niño, in tropical South America.

01:05

Davide Faranda, researcher at the CNRS climate and environmental sciences laboratory

Pauline Gleize

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Brazil: with more than 62 degrees felt, Rio is suffocating under unprecedented heat

Brazil: with more than 62 degrees felt, Rio is suffocating under unprecedented heat

More humid air

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