As the strongest El Niño on record continues to intensify, its effects are already being felt around the world. In the Amazon Rainforest, wildfire season is off to a brutal start.

In September, satellites detected a sharp rise in fire activity and smoke emissions in the central and eastern Amazon, according to NASA. The burning region stretches from forests surrounding the Brazilian cities of Manaus and Santarém to the mouth of the Amazon River.

Data from Brazil’s Amazon surveillance system shows that there were 1,679 fires in Brazil’s Amazonas state in the first two weeks of October, a 253% surge compared to the same period last year, Reuters reports. On October 12, NASA’s Aqua satellite captured images of smoke billowing from fires on both sides of the river and blanketing Manaus, the capital of Amazonas state.

City officials reported extremely poor air quality that day, with fine particulate matter (PM2.5) values above 135 micrograms per cubic meter. The hazardous conditions have forced residents to wear face masks, schools to close, and municipal administrative offices to suspend in-person work.

According to Douglas Morton, an Earth system scientist at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, the burning around Santarém and Manaus is part of a “cascade” of fire in the tropics that accompanies El Niño’s effects on rainfall patterns. Indeed, many of the same forests that burned during the El Niños of 2023 and 2015 are now burning again.

“It’s so striking—and frustrating—that this is happening all over again,” Morton said in a statement.

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