Snow in Brazil

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Snow in São Joaquim, Santa Catarina. (August 2010)
Snow in the 1960s, at a railway station in Ijuí, Rio Grande do Sul

Snow occurs in Brazil occasionally, but virtually every year in some cities of the high plains of the southern states of Rio Grande do Sul and Santa Catarina, that account for approximately 23,000 km2 (8,900 sq mi), and where there are the coldest cities in the country, where snow can happen when polar air masses reach the region: São Joaquim, Urubici, Urupema and São José dos Ausentes, among other cities bordering those, such as Bom Jesus, Bom Jardim da Serra and Cambará do Sul.[1][2]

In 20 July 1957, the greatest snowfall ever recorded in Brazil happened in São Joaquim, with more than 1 meter of accumulated snow.[3][4]

Although snow in Brazil is normally reserved only to high elevation areas, there are also many reports of snow precipitation in low elevation locations such as Ijuí[5] and Porto Alegre[6] (330 meters and 10 meters above sea level, respectively).

Besides these two states, snow precipitation also occurs in Paraná, and more rarely in São Paulo (last time in Apiaí in 1975[7][8]) and Rio de Janeiro (last time at Itatiaia, at the Pico das Agulhas Negras, in 1985),[9] thus making five states with snow precipitation reported in the country.[10][11]

The city of São Paulo has witnessed a phenomenon very similar to the precipitation of snow, the sublimation fog on June 26, 1918.[12] At the time, the water network froze in the city.

The phenomenon occurs mainly during the months of June, July and August. In this period, São Joaquim receives an average of 13,000 visitors from other parts of Brazil.[13]

Contents

Average altitude [edit]

City State Altitude (m) Altitude (ft)
São Joaquim SC 1360 4461
Urupema SC 1335 4380
Bom Jardim da Serra SC 1245 4085
São José dos Ausentes RS 1200 3937
Bom Jesus RS 1046 3432
Cambará do Sul RS 1031 3386
Vacaria RS 971 3186
Urubici SC 915 3002

See also [edit]

References [edit]

External links [edit]