It’s midwinter, but it’s over 100 degrees in South America

By Ian Livingston
August 2, 2023 at 1:43 p.m. EDT



Temperatures are forecast to rise near and above 100 degrees again Wednesday, and in days to come. (weatherbell.com)

It’s the middle of winter in South America, but that hasn’t kept the heat away in Chile, Argentina and surrounding locations. Multiple spells of oddly hot weather have roasted the region in recent weeks. The latest spell early this week has become the most intense, pushing the mercury above 100 degrees Fahrenheit, while setting an August record for Chile.

In Buenos Aires, where the average high on Aug. 1 is 58 degrees (14 Celsius), it surpassed 86 (30 Celsius) on Tuesday.

“South America is living one of the extreme events the world has ever seen,” weather historian Maximiliano Herrera tweeted, adding, “This event is rewriting all climatic books.”

The most extreme conditions have occurred in the southern half of the continent, and particularly in the Andes Mountains region.

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Forecast temperature anomaly in Celsius for the next week. (weatherbell.com)

By Ian Livingston
Ian Livingston is a forecaster/photographer and information lead for the Capital Weather Gang. By day, Ian is a defense and national security researcher at a D.C. think tank. Twitter https://twitter.com/islivingston