MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Brazil transitioning from extremely dry weather to heavy rains

Flooding might occur in some cities, a Metsul expert warned

Brazil is in for one of the wettest weeks in the last semester, the weather agency MetSul warned Monday, as heavy rains, lightning, hail, and gales have been forecasted for the South American largest country's Midwest, Southeast, and South after an extended drought with very low air humidity and intense heat.

 The end of the dry season is marked by a low-pressure atmospheric center over Paraguay, bringing heavy precipitations to the Brazilian States of Paraná, Santa Catarina, and Rio Grande do Sul, which are still recovering from historic floods this year, leading to the closure of Porto Alegre's Salgado Filho International Airport.

MetSul also projected strong downpours in parts of the Midwest and Southeast of Brazil, including places where there has been no rainfall for almost half a year, such as Brasília and Belo Horizonte.

The greatest accumulation of water is expected to focus on Santa Catarina and Paraná, where several cities could record between 100 and 200 mm over the next fortnight.

“It's been almost six months since we saw a rainfall projection map for Brazil with precipitation in as many places in the country as we see for the next ten days. There are few areas of Brazilian territory that should not have rain in the period - the most concentrated in the Northeast, for example,” MetSul said in a statement.

During this week and the next, “episodes of locally heavy to intense rain with lightning, localized hail, and isolated gales may occur in different parts of the Midwest, Southeast, and South of Brazil,” explained MetSul Meteorologist Estael Sias, who also spoke of possible localized thunderstorms that “may cause flooding in some cities.”
 
“In places where it hasn't rained for a long time, especially in Minas Gerais, Goiás, the Federal District and even Tocantins, gusts of wind can raise clouds of dust with reduced visibility,” the expert noted.

“On Saturday, low pressure will be over the Atlantic Ocean and will drive drier air into southern Brazil. As a result, the weather is expected to improve in much of the region, with sunshine returning to many cities,” MetSul also said on its https://metsul.com website.

MetSul boasts of relying on automated stations and the interpretation of the most important computerized forecasting models in South America, the United States, Europe, and Asia to design its forecasts. In addition, it has developed its own Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model.