During the austral winter (June–August) of 2021, the meteorological services of Brazil, Argentina, Peru, Paraguay, Bolivia, and Chile all issued forecasts for unusually cold conditions. Record-low minimum temperatures and cold spells were documented, including one strong cold wave episode that affected 5 countries. In this study, we define a cold wave as a period in which daily maximum and minimum air temperatures are below the corresponding climatological 10th percentile for three or more consecutive days. The intense cold wave event in the last week of June, 2021, resulted in record-breaking minimum daily temperatures in several places in central South America and Chile. Several locations had temperatures about 10 °C below average, central South America had freezing conditions, and southern Brazil even saw snow. The cold air surge was characterized by an intense upper-air trough loc...

Heavy rainfall events were observed in January along the dry southern coast of Peru, resulting in some locations breaking precipitation records of more than 30 years. Heavy rainfall during February led to 42 landslides across Peru and, by the end of summer, 77 people were reported dead, 165 wounded, and 3285 affected. More than 2600 homes were destroyed by floods and landslides. In the Bolivian Andes, an intense rainfall event triggered flash floods when 55 mm fell in Cochabamba on 20 February. This was Cochabamba’s fourth-highest daily precipitation on record and produced 2019’s biggest flood on the Rocha River.

The 2022 mean temperature for central South America was 0.23°C above the 1991–2020 average (Fig. 7.13). Much of the region had near- to above-average mean annual temperatures (Fig. 7.11). Seasonally, during December–February, much of the northern half of Brazil and some areas in northwestern Peru and southwestern Bolivia had near- to below-average temperatures. Meanwhile, the rest of region had near- to above-average conditions. During boreal autumn (March–May), most of the region experienced near- to above-average temperatures, with southern Peru and southwestern Bolivia observing below-average temperatures. Above-average temperatures also encompassed much of the region during boreal winter (June–August), with some locations experiencing mean temperature anomalies that were +2°C or higher. Parts of southern Peru continued to experience near- to below-average conditions during ...