January had intense rainfall in the Southeast and Central-west regions of Brazil associated with the South Atlantic Convergence Zone (SACZ) activity and the presence of upper tropospheric cyclonic vortex near Northeast Brazil coast.

The sea surface temperature (SST) continued to be above normal over a large area of equatorial Pacific indicating an active phase of El Niño during the month.

The dry conditions induced by the El Niño situation affected mostly the eastern part of Northeast Brazil, north of Para state and parts of Roraima, where aproximately 3700 hot spots indicating bush and forest fires were registered.

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