Data are from Friday (4.Oct.2024); Mato Grosso concentrates 43.6% of occurrences of this type
Brazil recorded 939 fires on Friday (Oct 4, 2024). The data is from the system BDQueimadas of Inpe (National Institute for Space Research), released this Saturday (5.Oct). The Pantanal concentrates the largest portion of occurrences, with 304 – or 32.4%.
Mato Grosso is the state with the highest number of fires, with 409 fires recorded in 24 hours, followed by Amazonas (126) and Bahia (91). The state capital, Cuiabá, recorded temperatures above 40ºC last week, which is expected to repeat this Saturday.
The 6 Brazilian biomes recorded the incidence of fire. The Amazon had the 2nd highest number, with 285 fires – 30.4% of the total.
Brazil ended the month of August 2024 with the worst number of fires in 14 years. There were 68,635 occurrences – the 5th highest in the historical series, which began in 1998. It was an increase of 144% compared to the same period in 2023.
September had 83,157 fires – the worst month of the year in terms of number of fires so far. Last month was the September with the highest number of fires since 2010, when 109,030 fires were recorded.
Compared to last year, which recorded 46,498 fire points in September, the increase was 78.74%. Traditionally, this is the month in which the peak of fires is recorded in Brazil, which continues until October.
In the first 4 days of October, the country accumulated 5,587 fires. In 2024, there will already be 215,795 such occurrences.
The country is experiencing, in addition to the increase in fire outbreaks, a historic drought, with the worst drought in 44 years, according to the Cemaden (National Center for Natural Disaster Monitoring and Alerts), linked to MCTI (Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation).
Understand the causes:
Drought and drought that affect most municipalities are common in the Brazilian winter. The season started in June and continues until the end of September. However, the intensity at which they occur in the season this year is atypical. There are 2 factors that most impact the scenario:
- strong heat waves – there have been 6 since the start of the season, according to Cemaden (National Center for Natural Disaster Monitoring and Alerts). On the other hand, the cold waves were only 4;
- anticipation of drought – in some regions of Brazil, the dry period began before winter. In the Amazon region, for example, the drought intensified almost 1 month ahead of schedule, at the beginning of June.
In the Amazon region, in addition to the fires, the drought has also caused damage. Amazonian municipalities face around 1 year of drought. It is the longest drought on record. There are 3 main causes:
- El Niño intensity – the rainfall regime was impacted by the phenomenon that warms the waters of the Pacific Ocean. It peaked at the beginning of this year and influenced the beginning of the drought;
- abnormal warming of the waters of the North Tropical Atlantic – the temperature in the maritime region, which is north of South America, increased by 1.2 °C to 1.4 °C in 2023 and 2024;
- record global temperatures – in July, the planet broke the record for the highest temperature ever recorded in history. The scenario creates conditions for stronger heat waves.
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