The Climate Impact Company season 1-3 ahead climate forecast for South America is updated. The forecast is based on a constructed analog rooted in regional SSTA regimes and their historical upper air patterns. Highlights include the likely evolution of Central Brazil drought during summer 2023-24 possibly expanding eastward during early autumn. Wet climate shifts into Northeast Argentina easing long-term drought in that region.

Deep layer (10-200 CM) soil moisture deficits are often caused by lack of rainfall over a lengthy (at least 9 months) time-period. This condition generally involves drought development at the surface and potential for flash drought if a dry and anomalous hot weather pattern settles over the area. Dramatic events are inspired by these conditions.

Sign of a long-term dry climate, deep layer soil moisture deficits identify where drought can intensify and where water levels/soil moisture are critically low. Manaus on the Amazon River reported their lowest river level in over one century.

The stress on the public and infrastructure of the summer 2023 heat across the Gulf States was immense. And ideal source region for heat elsewhere, the U.S. ranked 3rd hottest in the 129-year climatology for JUL/AUG/SEP 2023. During that 3-month period, New Mexico, Texas, Louisiana, and Florida observed their hottest mid-to-late summer on record.