Rio Mayor Eduardo Paes said Sunday that the city would not cancel events due to extreme temperatures during Carnival, which attracts millions of tourists and is a major earner for the city.

“But it is obvious that we can call the attention of (Carnival) revelers to say: ‘Hey, drink more water, hydrate yourself better, take certain precautions,'” he said.

“No one is going to suspend any activity in the city, even in an extreme event.”

Raquel Franco, chief meteorologist of the Rio Alert System, said the previous heat record for February in the city was 41.8C, recorded in February 2023.

With no rain on the horizon, “we may have one of the driest Februarys in history,” Franco said.

It was even harder to find respite from the heat in the city’s favelas — treeless urban heat islands of brick and concrete that often suffer the worst of heatwaves.