Brazil says 2024 was its hottest year on record

Rio de Janeiro: Last year was Brazil s hottest on record, its weather agency said Friday, after a record breaking drought and flooding in the South Am...

Rio de Janeiro: Last year was Brazil's hottest on record, its weather agency said Friday, after a record-breaking drought and flooding in the South American country that climate experts have linked to global warming.

The average temperature in 2024 was 25.02 degrees Celsius (77.04 Fahrenheit) -- 0.79 degrees above the 1991-2020 average, the National Institute of Meteorology said.

It was the warmest year since records began in 1961, exceeding the 2023 figure of 24.92 degrees Celsius, which was also a record high.

The weather agency said that the "statistically significant trend... may be associated with climate change resulting from rising global temperature and local environmental changes."

According to a study released last week, Brazil experienced an "alarming" increase in climate disasters between 2020 and 2023, with almost twice as many events each year, on average, as in the previous two decades.