An unusual heat wave, even for regions with a tropical climate, with temperatures exceeding 40 degrees Celsius, is currently hitting Rio de Janeiro residents and tourists visiting the city just before its famous carnival.

At noon local time, the metropolis of 6 million people touched for the first time the fourth level, out of a total of five, of the heatwave alert as set by municipal authorities.

Under this system-which came into effect last June-and is based on the temperature level and humidity rate, tier 4 is characterized by a “very high temperature index” of 40- 44 degrees Celsius, which is expected to be maintained “for at least three consecutive days.”

Under the city government’s protocol, authorities must provide air-conditioned rooms for citizens and install water distribution stations.

The state of Sao Paulo, south of Rio, was also put on alert due to the first heat wave of the year, with the mercury approaching 38 degrees Celsius.

The temperature record for February in Rio stands at 41.8 degrees Celsius and was recorded in 2023, according to Raquel Franco, a meteorologist with the municipality’s “Alerta Rio” system.

“We went another week without rain and the forecast for late February doesn’t call for much rainfall. We could have one of the driest February’s on record,” she pointed out.

Many areas of Brazil are being hit by a heat wave and beaches were packed with people this weekend in Rio, particularly in Copacabana, where one of the best-known samba schools in the carnival, Beija-Flor, cancelled its rehearsal of the parade scheduled for yesterday.

Rio’s mayor, Eduardo Paes, yesterday ruled out the possibility of cancelling the carnival events (February 28-March 8), which attract hundreds of thousands of tourists and provide millions of dollars to the economy.

In Copacabana, concierge Robson Oliveira took a photo of a public sign that read a temperature of 39 degrees Celsius. “It’s too hot, it’s unbearable. It needs to rain to cool down a bit,” he told Agence France-Presse.

The situation is particularly worrying in the favelas. In Bato Mouche, in western Rio, residents were trying to cool off with the help of garden hoses and an AFP reporter saw an elderly man fainting because of the heat.