São Paulo Records Second-Hottest December Day in Over Two Decades
São Paulo has experienced extreme heat as temperatures soared to their highest in December in 25 years.
Jordan Taylor
- 2023-12-31
- Updated 01:03 AM ET
(NewsNibs) - On Friday, December 29, São Paulo witnessed a scorching day with the mercury hitting a peak of 34.9°C, making it the city's hottest December day since 1998, except for a record-breaking day over two decades prior when the temperatures reached 35.6°C. This is based on data collected since 1961 by the National Institute of Meteorology (Inmet). The Mirante de Santana weather station, operational since 1945, recorded the all-time high temperature for the city in October 2014, when temperatures spiked at 37.8°C.
Trend of Rising Temperatures
São Paulo's recent temperature increase is in line with a pattern of record-breaking heat experienced from June to November, as each month consistently set new records for those respective times of the year. Similarly, the preliminary data indicates that the average temperatures for the first three weeks of December were unusually high, running about 1°C above the historical average for this period.
Moreover, this year reported some very high temperatures with the warmest day recorded on November 13, reaching up to 37.7°C. The city also reported exceptionally high temperatures earlier in the month, with December 3rd and 7th marking their entries among the top ten hottest December days recorded in São Paulo, charting temperatures of 34.6°C and 34.5°C respectively.
Global Temperature Trends
These high temperatures in São Paulo mirror global patterns, as data for 2023 shows the average global temperature for the first 11 months was a significant 1.46°C above the pre-industrial average. It also was 0.13°C warmer than the average for the same period in 2016, underscoring a continued upward trajectory in global temperatures.
