Drought in the South region intensifies, indicates the latest update from the Drought Monitor

Between September 2023 and June 2024, Santa Catarina (SC) remained drought-free, according to the latest update from the Drought Monitor – this is the longest sequence of consecutive months in this condition in Brazil. Rio Grande do Sul (RS) has remained drought-free since October 2023. Only SC, RS, Alagoas (AL), Paraíba (PB), Rio Grande do Norte (RN) and Sergipe (SE) remained drought-free. drought in June this year.

In turn, Paraná experienced an intensification of the phenomenon, as the area with moderate drought increased from 10% to 26% of the state between May and June – a scenario that resulted in an increase in the severity of the phenomenon in the South region. Drought in Paraná remained in 60% of its territory – as a result, the area where the phenomenon was recorded remained stable in 20% of the South in June. With this scenario, the region had the smallest area with the phenomenon among the five regions monitored in the country in the last month.

Below are the highlights by state in the South region in the last month.

national scenario

Between May and June, in terms of drought severity, there was a slowdown in the phenomenon in three units of the Federation, according to the latest update from the Drought Monitor: Mato Grosso, Pará and Roraima. In the opposite direction, in eight other units of the Federation the drought intensified during this period: Acre, Amazonas, Distrito Federal, Goiás, Mato Grosso do Sul, Minas Gerais, Paraná and São Paulo. In terms of severity, the drought remained stable in ten units of the Federation: Amapá, Bahia, Ceará, Espírito Santo, Maranhão, Pernambuco, Piauí, Rio de Janeiro, Rondônia and Tocantins. Another six states remained drought-free in June: Alagoas, Paraíba, Rio Grande do Norte, Rio Grande do Sul, Santa Catarina and Sergipe.

In the comparison between May and June, seven states registered an increase in the area with drought: Bahia, Espírito Santo, Maranhão, Minas Gerais, Pernambuco, Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo. In four other states, there was a reduction in the area affected by drought: Amazonas, Ceará, Pará and Piauí. In ten units of the Federation, the area with the phenomenon remained stable: Acre, Amapá, Distrito Federal, Goiás, Mato Grosso, Mato Grosso do Sul, Paraná, Rondônia, Roraima and Tocantins. In turn, six states remained drought-free in June: Alagoas, Paraíba, Rio Grande do Norte, Rio Grande do Sul, Santa Catarina and Sergipe.

Four units of the Federation registered drought in 100% of the territory in May this year: Acre, Amazonas, Distrito Federal and Roraima. For percentages above 99%, all territories with drought are considered. In the other units of the Federation that registered an area with drought, the percentages varied from 11% to 98%.

Based on the territory of each Federation unit monitored, Amazonas leads the total area with drought in May, followed by Pará, Mato Grosso, Minas Gerais and Goiás. In total, between April and May, the area with the phenomenon increased by 5,68 .5,83 million to 68 million km², equivalent to XNUMX% of the Brazilian territory.