There’s so much smoke from wildfires in the Amazon rainforest that Sao Paulo plunged into darkness on Monday afternoon (Aug. 19), with day turning into night.

The atmosphere, reminiscent of Mordor in “The Lord of the Rings,” was a reminder that forest fires in the Amazon have surged 82% this year compared with the same period last year (from January to August), according to data from the Brazilian government’s National Institute for Space Research (INPE), as reported by El Pais.

That smoke, combined with clouds and a cold front (it’s winter in the Southern Hemisphere), led to the midnight-like darkness in São Paulo, The Washington Post reported. The fires are largely burning in northern Brazil and have prompted the Brazilian state of Amazonas to declare a state of emergency.

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