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Yesterday or so I happily stumbled across this board on the internet. I read quite a few threads but I haven’t found one devoted to the Brazilian climate as a whole. From 0 to 10, which grade would you give it?
Well, obviously, those who love snowy winters will not find anything very interesting here, since Brazil is located between 5°N and 33°S and its terrain consists principally of old highlands, some plains and old and flat mountains. The highest peak is in the extreme north of the country and the south is relatively flat. So there isn’t a single place with snow every year here. However, we do get some a few times – 2010 I think there was some snow showers in the highlands of Santa Catarina, and here (www.skyscrapercity.com/showthread.php?t=495779) you can see some pictures of snow in the mountains of southern Rio de Janeiro state.
Our coldest climates will please those who love mild temperatures. Curitiba, due to its more southerly location and good elevation (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Curitiba) has mild summers and winters (for Brazilian standards the winters are quite cold, they get below freezing temperatures a few days a year), overall a pretty pleasant climate. Campos do Jordão, in the São Paulo state eastern mountains (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Campos_de_Jordão), is also nice, summers are nice despite the rains and winters are sunny, with beautiful, somewhat hot days and cold nights. The winter sunset is really beautiful, with a red sky and temperatures about 12°C. Our coldest city (in terms of mean temperatures) is São Joaquim (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/São_Joaquim), whose climatic classification almost borders Cfb (....).
Those who like hot summers and mild winters should look for the southern coast. Florianópolis’ summer is truly tropical (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Florianópolis), and still has a chilly winter. The same applies for Porto Alegre (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Porto_Alegre).
I live in São Paulo (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/São_Paulo). I like my climate, despite finding the summers (Jan and Feb) way too hot and I really don’t like those thunderstorms in the summer. The city gets chaotic, taking the bus or the metro in a thunderstorm day is a horrible experience etc. Autumn and early winter are mild and nice, but late winter is too dry for my standards, sometimes gets up to 30°C and the air quality is pretty bad. But I still prefer it to most of Brazil’s climates.
A good chunk of Central Brazil has a characteristic tropical dry and wet climate. A relatively cool example is Ribeirão Preto (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ribeirão_Preto), in São Paulo state, and a hot example is Cuiabá (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cuiabá). There are some interesting twists due to the elevation, like BrasÃlia (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BrasÃlia), with milder average highs.
In the interior of the Northeast, we get, in my opinion, the worst climate of the country: the sertão BSh climate (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sertão). It is one of the poorest regions and its harsh conditions have inspired a lot of Brazilian writers and artists but the climate is truly miserable.
The northern two thirds of the country’s coast enjoy tropical climates. Various examples are Rio (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rio_de_Janeiro), Salvador (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salvador,_Bahia), Recife (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Recife), Fortaleza (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fortaleza) etc. Some are hotter than others, and some have a lot of rain the whole year, some don’t etc. I’m not a fan of those climates, really, just for a few days during holidays. My favorite of that bunch maybe is the climate of northern São Paulo coast, since it gets a little colder in winter and a lot of rain in the summer (due to the topography), and for some reason I like that gloomy tropical beach scenery, with those melancholic fisher boats (couldn’t find the climate data, sorry).
I just don’t give Brazil’s climate a grade because I don’t know any other climates for comparison. I find my summers too hot, but I don’t know if I would enjoy severe winters, I just don’t know how does it feel when it is less then 5°C.
(Finally, if you guys could indicate me some readings on basic climatology, I would find it helpful, since I’m new in this subject, and I have some curiosity to study more.)
Last edited by euclideanspace; 04-07-2012 at 02:46 PM..
As one of the hardcore winter fans of this forum, naturally there is nothing I like in Brazil. Brazil for me consists almost entirely of bottom-grade climates with no redeeming qualities. Small sections in the south are warm or mild year-round, instead of hot, and they do have a few redeeming features. So because there are a few climates that for me rise above failing-grade, Brazil's rating is a 1, instead of a 0.
As for basic reading, I will leave that to the others on this forum, but you may find reading up on the Koeppen system useful, as well as looking up general world climatology; a Google search can lead you to many websites that have basic writeups on these subjects. I'd also advise you on looking up climate stats on every city you can possibly think of - the more you see and read up on, the better your feel and grasp of world climates will be.
I also see that you're from São Paulo. We currently and have had a few posters that live in your city. For some reason it seems to be fertile ground for people who frequent the weather forum, more so than other cities in your country.
I think an overall rating is meaningless. I would rank Sao Paulo poorly because of its cloudiness along with other undesirable aspects, Rio better (Buzios preferred to Rio because of less rainfall). Brasilia and the hinterland in comparable zones around it is not bad at all, very pleasant indeed in the dry season. The tropical coast from a little north of Rio to Salvador is reasonably appealing. But I doubt if any part of the country could approach my Mediterranean/desert preferences.
Yeah, I've read the basic about the Köppen system, and ultimately I have been having some fun looking up climate stats of cities around the world. When I have more time I'll try to read up some texts on world climatology.
It is natural to have more people from São Paulo than people from other cities in the Internet in general because a tenth of the Brazilian population is in the SP metro, but I don't there is a general passion about weather here or something like that... (but people do love to complain about the weather, if it is more than 24°C, too hot, less than 22°C, too cold haha)
I saw that a lot of the threads here were about ratings, so I decided to follow the trend. But it really doesn't make much sense for a big country...
I'm not really a fan of any Brazilian climates I've seen since they are on the boring side, although Petrolina and Cabrobo look interesting for their dryness in a reasonably wet country.
I gave Brazil a 9 overall. Not all the climates are perfect, but on the A to F ratings popular on this forum, I'd say there is more than one A+, mostly of A's, and no city I can think of getting worse than a B-.
Florianopolis is one of my favorite climates anywhere on earth. Some of the very chilliest Brazilian climates are too damp and cool, but not really offensively, and the same can be said of some of the drier, hotter climates up in the North-East, which aren't my ideal but still pretty great.
I'm not really a fan of any Brazilian climates I've seen since they are on the boring side, although Petrolina and Cabrobo look interesting for their dryness in a reasonably wet country.
I give Brazil a 9/10 for its climates.. most of the climates in the country are fantastic and only a small portion of climates in the southern region of the country lose points for cooler than desired winters.
I give Brazil a 9/10 for its climates.. most of the climates in the country are fantastic and only a small portion of climates in the southern region of the country lose points for cooler than desired winters.
Since Brazil bulges at it's equatorial region, on a pure geographical basis it is going to favour heat lovers.
Most of the interior is going to be like a steam room, but is also uninhabited with no weather stations. (watch out for the odd poison dart as well).
As a temperate lover, only the far southern region and some highland regions are going to be ok.
Interesting that the OP even finds Sao Paulo too hot, when that is borderline temperate due to it's elevation.
Places like Rio are moderated by trade winds, so it is not as hot as it could be.
Still, Brazil as a whole - just like Nothern Australia, has little appeal and cannot get better than a 3/10.
I give Brazil a 9/10 for its climates.. most of the climates in the country are fantastic and only a small portion of climates in the southern region of the country lose points for cooler than desired winters.
Fascinating. The exact inverse of my rating and assessment.
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