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News > Chile

Strong Heat Waves Forecast for Central Chile

  • Chile has registered record temperatures for the month of November. Nov. 3, 2022.

    Chile has registered record temperatures for the month of November. Nov. 3, 2022. | Photo: Twitter/@DEGREYD_MINSAL

Published 3 November 2022
Opinion

Temperatures possibly above 40 °C are expected to affect central Chile later this year and until the end of March next year.

This forecast comes from Patricio Gonzalez, professor at the Center for Research and Transfer of Irrigation and Agroclimatology at the University of Talca.

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During the country's summer, new heat waves and forest fires are expected, said González, who warned that "temperatures will be increasingly higher starting in November, extending until the end of March 2023."

According to the professor, with a drought that lasts 15 years, conditions are conducive to "eruptive fires, of great geographic spread and very difficult to stop, due to a crosswind that sometimes changes direction very quickly."

The expert said that the heat wave in central Chile could extend for over ten consecutive days in the coming months. "Record high temperatures with very low relative air humidity" are the result of a wind coming from Argentina and down the Andes Mountains, Gonzalez said.

Temperatures could easily exceed 40°C in central Chile, and heat waves could last more than ten consecutive days.

Warning that "we are going to have more and more events of this type and more extensive heat waves, with record temperatures in several regions of the country," the professor called on the authorities to take action on the matter. 

Gonzalez conceded that "there is a climate change factor" related to such a scenario. He said adequate public policies are needed to address the issue, which hurts the economy.

Chile has registered record temperatures for November. San Fernando, Curicó, Parral, Linares and Chillán recorded around 35° C, while Talca recorded 37.6° C (the highest in a century) and Cauquenes 36.8° C. 

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