The current El Niño phenomenon has driven temperatures in Peru to historic highs, with August recording national average maximum temperatures 4.4 degrees Celsius above normal and minimum temperatures averaging 3.8 degrees Celsius above normal, according to Peru's National Meteorology and Hydrology Service, known as Senamhi.
Senamhi said the distortion exceeds levels seen in previous catastrophic El Niño episodes, including the 1997 event, which brought torrential rain to the coasts of Ecuador and Peru and typically caused major flooding after rivers overflowed their banks. The agency said the current El Niño's magnitude is expected to remain extraordinary until at least early 2027.
El Niño is a climate pattern caused by unusual warming of the central Pacific Ocean. It periodically disrupts weather across South America and beyond, often bringing heavy rains and flooding to Peru and Ecuador while altering conditions elsewhere in the world.
Coastal anomalies surpass 1997 and 2023
In a report released Friday, Senamhi detailed that Peru's central coast recorded the highest monthly average temperature anomaly along the entire coastline in August, with air temperatures running 6.3 degrees Celsius above the historical average. That figure far exceeded the anomalies recorded in August 1997, which stood at 4.1 degrees Celsius, and August 2023, which reached 4.4 degrees Celsius.
Peru's northern coast registered an average anomaly of 4.4 degrees Celsius above normal, also surpassing the anomalies recorded in 1997, at 3.4 degrees Celsius, and in 2023, at 3.5 degrees Celsius. Senamhi said exceptionally warm thermal conditions persisted along the Peruvian coastline throughout August.
New heat records set across the country
Among the most notable readings, the town of Jayanca in the Lambayeque region hit 35 degrees Celsius on August 7, breaking the previous record of 34 degrees Celsius set on August 29, 2023.
In La Esperanza, in the Piura region, temperatures reached 33.2 degrees Celsius on that same August 7, surpassing the record of 32.0 degrees Celsius set on the identical date in 1997.
In the capital, Lima, the Campo de Marte park reached 28 degrees Celsius on August 22, beating a record of 27.1 degrees Celsius that had stood since August 12, 1939.
Nights also broke decades-old records
Senamhi's data on minimum temperatures showed similarly striking anomalies. Peru's northern coast recorded the largest monthly average anomaly in minimum temperatures, at 4.3 degrees Celsius above normal, reflecting exceptionally warm nights that exceeded the anomalies observed in August 1997, at 4.1 degrees Celsius, and August 2023, at 3.0 degrees Celsius.
On the central coast, the monthly anomaly in minimum temperatures reached 4.2 degrees Celsius, higher than the 3.4 degrees Celsius recorded in 2023, though slightly below the 4.8 degrees Celsius recorded during the 1997 event.
Among the highest minimum temperature readings, La Cruz in the Tumbes region recorded 25.6 degrees Celsius on August 22, surpassing the previous record of 24.7 degrees Celsius set on August 14, 2023.
Jayanca, in Lambayeque, reached a minimum of 23.2 degrees Celsius on August 1, breaking a record of 21.6 degrees Celsius set on August 9, 1997. In La Esperanza, Piura, the minimum reached 23.4 degrees Celsius on August 8, above the 23.1 degrees Celsius recorded on the same date in 1997.
