The technical manager of Uruguayan Institute of Meteorology (Inumet), Yamandú Morán, confirmed this Tuesday that the climatic situation is “critical” in the country due to the “low rainfall.” This has generated a series of fires in recent weeks in which the National Fire Department warns that if the weather persists there could be a “record number” of interventions.
“The situation is critical and we have a fire risk index running that indicates that the entire country is in the red, at high risk of fire,” he said at a press conference that he attended together with the Minister of Livestock, Fernando Mattos. among other authorities.
“Unfortunately, we don’t have very good news as to what Time prediction refers to,” he added. “The forecast rainfall is very scarce, almost always punctual, produced by air mass storms, storms that occur in one place yes and in another no and not a general rain as we are always used to,” he said.
Durán assured that this water situation occurs as a result of the La Niña phenomenon, which began in 2020 and raises temperatures.
“Throughout the country it will be homogeneous. The temperatures are going to be above what we are used to at this time of year. And in terms of precipitation, the limit is below it in the northwest and in the rest of the country it tends to be somewhat normal,” he assured.
Inumet’s technical manager said that in the short term “the news is not good.” “In 30 to 40 days, the cumulatives reach 50 millimeters in the northeast area and that’s it,” he said.
inumet had issued a notice last Wednesday for a gradual increase in temperature in the following days.
According to the agency, from that day to this there will be “little cloudiness”, a wildfire risk ‘elevated and rising’ and an “extremely high” UV index during the afternoon.
The notice of the institute was accompanied by an image where the vast majority of the country is seen painted red: The Fire Weather Index (FWI), which estimates the danger of wildfires. “High FWI values indicate more favorable weather conditions for triggering a forest fire,” Inumet reported on her website.
Firefighters say fires last longer
The national director of Firefighters, Ricardo Riaño, said that a particularity that is taking place this year is “that the time” of the fires is being extended due to the lack of rain.
Since the summer season began, there have been 40 fires.
Riaño assured that if the lack of rain continues, they will continue to increase the work of Firefighters due to forest fires. Y “Without a doubt we are going to end up with a record number of interventions of this nature,” he said, that are added to interventions of another type such as traffic accidents.
