São Paulo faces harsher droughts and storms due to climate change

A data analysis, published by newspaper Folha de S. Paulo, shows that the climate in São Paulo (SP), Brazil’s largest city, is 3ºC hotter when compared to the 1960s. The rainy and drought seasons are also more intense, according to information from the National Institute of Meteorology (Inmet).

Until 1980, the city had only experienced one event in which it rained more than 100mm in a single day. Between 2010 and 2020, such events happened six times. The longer droughts in the 1960s used to last only 12 days. In 2012, the city experienced a 51 days streak without rain. The dry period was partially responsible for the severe supply crisis the city faced in 2014, which left many households without water for months.

Climatologists heard by the newspaper expect the trend to continue and be aggravated in the next decades. According to the scientists, the extreme droughts and rains happen because of global climate change, but are also influenced by the city’s urbanization process. With over 12 million inhabitants, they believe São Paulo will also face health issues related to climate change, such as an increase in mosquitoes that transmit diseases and heart and respiratory conditions.