In recent decades there has been an increase in magnitude and occurrence of heat waves and a decrease of cold waves which are possibly related to the anthropogenic influence (Solomon et al., 2007). This study describes the extreme temperature regime of heat waves and cold waves across South America over recent years (1980–2014). Temperature records come from the Global Surface Summary of the Day (GSOD), a climatological dataset produced by the National Climatic Data Center that provides records of daily maximum and minimum temperatures acquired worldwide.