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.
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.
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.
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.
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.