Extreme wildfires in coastal-central Chile have been fuelled by intense and persistent fire-conducive weather conditions in the region since the beginning of the year favouring the spread of severe fires in Viña del Mar (33°S, 71°W) in early February.
South America
Climate change, not El Niño, main driver of exceptional drought in highly vulnerable Amazon River Basin
Since mid 2023 the Amazon River Basin (ARB) has been in a state of exceptional drought, driven by low rainfall and consistently high temperatures for the entire year 2023 across the basin.
Strong influence of climate change in uncharacteristic early spring heat in South America
Large parts of South America suffered from extremely high temperatures for an extended period of time, reaching above 40ºC in central and Northern Brazil during mid-September, despite it being the spring season.
Vulnerability and high temperatures exacerbate impacts of ongoing drought in Central South America
Since 2019 large parts of Argentina and neighboring countries have been reeling under drought conditions with the last four months of 2022 receiving only 44% of the average precipitation: the lowest rainfall in 35 years.
Climate change made record breaking early season heat in Argentina and Paraguay about 60 times more likely
A large area centred around the central-northern part of Argentina, and also southern Bolivia, central Chile, and most of Paraguay and Uruguay, experienced record-breaking temperatures during two consecutive heatwaves in late November and early December 2022.