Fires affecting different parts of Brazil may be linked to a historic lack of rain—the most severe recorded in the last four decades—that is impacting 16 states and the Federal District.

The drought data comes from the National Center for Monitoring and Disaster Alerts, which considered information from May to August for all federative units since 1981, the year records began.

Preliminary figures from the center for this August show that approximately 7 out of 10 Brazilian municipalities are affected by some type of drought—mild, moderate, extreme, or severe.

In addition to the influence of last year's El Niño, the rain is also being hampered by the zonal mode of the Atlantic, characterized by the cooling of ocean waters off the coast of Africa, which weakens the flow of moisture-laden winds to Brazil.