The year 2023 was the hottest in the history of Brazil

The year 2023 is the hottest in the planet's history, according to data from the World Meteorological Organization (WMO). In Brazil, the average temperature for the year was 24,92°C, 0,69°C above the historical average for 1991/2020, which is 24,23°C. In 2022, the annual average was 24,07ºC, 0,16ºC below the historical average.

Graph 1 shows the hottest years in the country. Check it out below! It is worth mentioning that the years highlighted were under the influence of the El Niño phenomenon, with intensity from strong to very strong, as in 2023.

According to a survey by the National Institute of Meteorology (Inmet), of the 12 months of the year 2023, nine had monthly temperature averages above the historical average (1991/2020), with emphasis on September, which presented the greatest deviation (difference between the recorded value and the historical average) since 1961, with 1,6ºC above the climatology of 1991/2020 (historical average).

Throughout the year, Brazil faced nine episodes of heat waves, a reflection of the impacts of the El Niño phenomenon (above-average warming of the waters of the Equatorial Pacific Ocean), which tends to favor an increase in temperature in several regions of the planet. Furthermore, other factors have contributed to the occurrence of increasingly extreme events, such as the increase in the global temperature of the Earth's surface and oceans.

After analyzing the deviations in average annual temperatures in Brazil from 1961 to 2023, Inmet verified a trend of statistically significant increase in temperatures over the years (dashed line in figure 1), which may be associated with changes in the climate due to the elevation global temperature and local environmental changes.

It is worth remembering that there are differences between the regions, as shown in figure 2. The highest temperatures were observed in the south of Pará, Mato Grosso, south of Mato Grosso do Sul, Paraná, Rio Grande do Sul, areas of Minas Gerais, Goiás, Bahia, Pernambuco and Ceará.

Global temperature

According to the provisional version of the State of the Global Climate 2023, published by the WMO, on November 30, 2023, the average global surface temperature was 1,4°C above the historical average of 1850/1900, until October last year .

With this value, the year 2023 is already considered the hottest in 174 years of meteorological measurements, surpassing the years 2016, with 1,29°C above average, and 2020, with 1,27°C above average.