March 17, 2024
By Gabriel Castilho
The city of Rio de Janeiro is currently experiencing a record-breaking summer season.
On March 16, Rio de Janeiro registered for the first time a thermal sensation of 60.1 degrees Celsius (140 Fahrenheit), according to the Alerta Rio meteorological station in Guaratiba. The measure beat the record set last year of 59.7 degrees Celsius (139 Fahrenheit) in November. On the next day, March 17, the record was once again beaten, when the meteorological station in Guaratiba registered a thermal sensation of 62.3 degrees Celsius (144 Fahrenheit), the highest ever recorded.
Those numbers are surprising, as on the last decade (starting from 2010) only in one year (2014) thermal sensations peaked above 55 degrees Celsius (131 Fahrenheit), and four years registered thermal sensations above 50 Celsius (122 Fahrenheit). On the last five years, four have already registered thermal sensations above 50 Celsius, with two registering thermal sensations close to 60 Celsius.
Thermal sensation and temperature are not synonyms. According to the news portal G1, thermal sensation is an equation that takes into account temperature, wind speed and relative humidity. In other words, it is the difference between what the measuring station registers and what a human body feels like in a set moment and locality.
According to the news portal, thermal sensation has no scientific use, but when the measured body temperature is above 40 degrees Celsius, human life is at risk.
Gabriel Castilho 