South America

Consecutive extreme heat and flooding events in Argentina highlight the risk of managing increasingly frequent and intense hazards in a warming climate

Ruta 3 highway in Bahía Blanca was damaged by the floods. Credit: Vialidad Nacional jurisdicción Bahía Blanca

On 7 March, 2025, Bahía Blanca, Argentina, experienced an unprecedented rainfall event with over 300 mm of rain in just 8 hours, nearly half of the city’s annual average. This extreme event, the heaviest in the city’s recorded history (1956-present), was caused by a cold front reaching the area after several days of hot, humid … Continue reading “Consecutive extreme heat and flooding events in Argentina highlight the risk of managing increasingly frequent and intense hazards in a warming climate”

When Risks Become Reality: Extreme Weather In 2024

A composite image with five panels showing: a satellite image of flood waters discharging into the ocean, workers sweeping mud after a flood, a forestfire, a women walking through a flood and a satellite image of a hurricane.

When Risks Become Reality: Extreme Weather in 2024 is our annual report, published this year for the first time.

Hot, dry and windy conditions that drove devastating Pantanal wildfires 40% more intense due to climate change

So far this year, wildfires are believed to have burned more than 1.3 million hectares of the Pantanal, the world’s largest tropical wetland and a hotspot of biodiversity.

Climate change, El Niño and infrastructure failures behind massive floods in southern Brazil

An aerial image of flooding in Canaos, Rio Grande do Sul. Light brown water overflows from a river delta into a city, flooding roads and surrounding buildings.

Between 24 April and 4 May 2024 over 420 mm of rain fell in Brazil’s southernmost state Rio Grande do Sul, leading to more than 90% of the state being affected by flooding.

Despite known coastal cooling trend, risk of deadly wildfires in central Chile increasing with changing land management in a warming climate

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.

Consecutive extreme heat and flooding events in Argentina highlight the risk of managing increasingly frequent and intense hazards in a warming climate

When Risks Become Reality: Extreme Weather In 2024

Hot, dry and windy conditions that drove devastating Pantanal wildfires 40% more intense due to climate change

Climate change, El Niño and infrastructure failures behind massive floods in southern Brazil

Despite known coastal cooling trend, risk of deadly wildfires in central Chile increasing with changing land management in a warming climate

Latest analyses

Event type

Location

Year