All-Time Record High For Paraguay At 114.1F; Heat/Drought Punishing Argentina's Export Crops

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Last edited Sun Jan 16, 2022, 04:10 PM - Edit history (1)

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Extreme heat also cooked South America this week, with multiple stations in Argentina, Uruguay, and southwestern Brazil approaching or beating their all-time highs. Most notably, Uruguay tied it’s all-time national heat record on Friday, January 14, when the mercury hit 44 degrees Celsius (111.2°F) in the town of Florida; Paysandú, Uruguay, also recorded 44 degrees Celsius on January 20, 1943.

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Buenos Aires, Argentina, recorded its second-hottest day in history on Friday, January 14, with 41.5 degrees Celsius (106.7°F). The temperature might have gone even higher, but for smoke from wildfires burning to the north that shrouded the region. The city’s third-hottest day in history was three days earlier, with 41.1 degrees Celsius (106°F) on January 11; their all-time record remains 43.3 degrees Celsius (110°F) in 1957. Numerous Argentinian stations broke their all-time hottest temperature on record on January 11, 13, and 14, 2022.

As of January 14, the hottest temperature in Argentina reported during this week’s heat wave by the Servicio Meteorológico Nacional was 45 degrees Celsius (113°F) at Rivadavia on January 12. That reading is not far below the hottest reliably measured South American temperature of 47.3 degrees Celsius (117.1°F) at Campo Gallo, Argentina, on October 16, 1936.

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With global food prices currently at a 46-year high, the heat wave and an associated drought in Argentina are cause for concern, as the nation is a key grain-producing breadbasket for the world. Indeed, the greatest threat of climate change to civilization over the next 40 years may very well be climate change-amplified extreme droughts and/or floods hitting multiple major global grain-producing “breadbaskets” in the same year: That situation could trigger significant food prices spikes that lead to mass starvation, war, and severe global economic recession. I outlined such a scenario last year, which was published in The Hill. The scenario is similar to one outlined by insurance giant Lloyds of London in a “Food System Shock” report issued in 2015. Argentina – the world’s largest exporter of soybeans, third-largest exporter of corn, and seventh-largest wheat exporter, according to the USDA – played an important role in both scenarios.

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https://yaleclimateconnections.org/2022/01/australia-ties-southern-hemispheres-all-time-heat-record-of-123f-epic-heat-cooks-argentina/