Dark Cloud to Enshroud Brazil’s Largest City as Amazon Burns
Dark Cloud to Enshroud Brazil’s Largest City as Amazon Burns
(Bloomberg) -- Soot from the burning of the Amazon rain-forest and vast wetlands known as the Pantanal is headed for South America’s largest city, threatening to turn day into night.
A giant dark cloud coming from the fires is approaching the Southern state of Parana, where it could arrive Friday, before winds carry it to Sao Paulo on Saturday, said Celso Oliveira, a meteorologist at Somar Meteorologia. There, it could be followed by a black rain, a phenomena caused by particles of smoke and dust that don’t dissolve in water, he said.
Last year, when fires in the world’s largest rain-forest drew global criticism, a dark cloud also enveloped the mega-city that’s home to more than 20 million people. The number of fires in the Amazon and Pantanal biomes in 2020 is 12% and 208% higher than in 2019, according to Brazil’s Spacial Research Institute, known as Inpe.
Scorching temperatures and dry weather will continue to fuel fires in the nation’s center and northern areas, Oliveira said. Temperatures have already reached over 5 degrees Celsius above the normal levels in most of the Center-West region, a pattern that may continue in the next seven days.
“Cuiaba, the capital of Mato Grosso state, may have the highest temperature ever seen, of 43 degrees Celsius,” he said. “This city hasn’t seen rain for 115 days.”
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Fires in the Amazon and Pantanal, which are already affecting air quality in the center of Brazil, are another blow for the nation that has become one of the global epicenters for the coronavirus pandemic. The Latin American country trails only the U.S. in number of deaths from the disease, and ranks third in infections, behind the U.S. and India.
©2020 Bloomberg L.P.