If you are curious about the climate of Brazil, then this blog post is for you.
Most people know Brazil for soccer, its beautiful women, and its carnival. It is the fourth biggest country in the world and the biggest country in South America. Brazil has a complex ecological system.
When climate and nature work together, they create beautiful scenery and give the world several unique places. Climate is the average pattern of weather over a long period. In different parts of Brazil, there are five climates: equatorial, tropical, semi-arid, highland tropical, and subtropical.
Brazil is a big country covering over 3 million square miles. It is the fifth country with the most people. The weather in Brazil changes from north to south, but most of the country is in the tropics, so the weather is mostly tropical.
The Amazon Rainforest is the world’s largest. It is in the north of Brazil. Here, the weather is sticky and humid. Inside Brazil, it is hot and dry. Since Brazil is in the Southern Hemisphere, the seasons are the opposite of what they are in the Northern Hemisphere.
The summer is from December to March, and the winter is from May to September when it is colder. Continue reading to learn more about the weather in different parts of Brazil.
The Climate of Brazil: Brazil’s Climate Classifications
The weather in a certain part of Brazil depends on several things, such as temperature, rainfall, humidity, winds, and air pressure. In turn, these factors are affected by things like altitude, latitude, relief, vegetation, and continentality.
Let’s discuss the five different climates in Brazil.
Equatorial Climate
Because of the constant humidity and rain in the area, rainforests tend to grow in places with an equatorial climate. There is no such thing as winter in an equatorial climate, and there is no time of year when it is especially dry.
Rainfall is usually heavy and often happens throughout the year. This gives rainforests their dense, lush vegetation. Temperatures at night can be very different from those during the day.
But the daily temperatures are the same because equatorial zones are usually on the equator, which puts them on the same line of latitude and in the same pressure belt. Because it is usually cloudy in these areas, the high temperatures rarely go above 33 degrees Celsius and are usually between 25 and 28 degrees, which is a comfortable range.
Northern and Central Brazil, which includes Amazonia, have a humid equatorial climate. This kind of weather is caused by the trade winds coming together.
Tropical Climate
A tropical climate is only found in the tropics, as the name suggests. This type of climate has consistent temperatures all year long. The only thing that makes the seasons different is how much rain they bring.
In places with rainforests, like Brazil, it rains at least 2.4 inches on average every year. For a place to have a tropical climate zone, the average temperature must be above 18 degrees Celsius all year.
There is a tropical climate in most of Brazil’s central part and along the middle-north coast. Depending on the season, it is either humid or dry.
Sub-tropical Climate
A subtropical zone is an area with a climate close to tropical but not quite there. Even though it is hot and humid, it is not as hot and humid as in the tropics. Winters are usually mild to cool but rarely cold enough for snow or frost.
The amount of rain that falls in Brazil’s subtropical zone depends on how high the area is above sea level.
Most of the humid subtropical climate in the Orient and along subtropical coasts is caused by tropical air masses from the ocean. In the southern part of Brazil, the subtropical climate is most common.
Oceanic Climate
Along the coast of Brazil, there is an oceanic climate, also called a maritime or highland tropical climate.
Summers are cool, and the winters are warm, but the average temperature doesn’t change much from year to year.
In an oceanic climate, it rains all year long. The annual mean temperature must be at least 18 degrees Celsius for a place to be in an oceanic climate zone.
An oceanic climate is a humid coastal climate that is open to tropical air masses from the ocean. The weather is mostly oceanic in the eastern and northeastern parts of Brazil, where there are narrow strips of coastline.
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The Climate of Brazil: Weather Patterns Based on Region
Brazil has a wide range of temperatures and amounts of rain. Generally, the cities along the coast can get very hot, while the plateaus tend to have milder weather and temperatures.
Northeast Brazil is the driest part of the country, so there isn’t much natural vegetation. On the other hand, the basin of the Amazon River gets the most rain and has a wide range of plants.
Northeast Brazil
The climate of Brazil in the northeast is a bit complicated, and the four systems of circulation that affect the area are called “Systems of Disturbed Currents of South, North, East, and West.”
Polar air masses, which are part of the south currents, reach Brazil’s coasts (south of Bahia) in the spring and summer, bringing frontal and back-frontal rains.
In the winter, the polar air masses reach the coast of Pernambuco, Brazil, while the tropical air masses stay in the interior.
Even in Pernambuco, near the Raso da Catarina, it rains in the summer and fall because of currents coming from the north.
On the other hand, the disturbing currents of the east happen more often in the winter, and they usually bring a lot of rain to the coastal areas.
However, they rarely reach higher elevations, like Chapada Diamantina, which is 1200 meters above sea level. Lastly, the west currents usually happen from the end of spring to the start of fall.
In the northeast of Brazil, the average temperature is between 20 and 28 degrees Celsius, which is warm. In the south of Maranhao and Piaui, temperatures have reached a high of about 40 degrees Celsius.
During the winter, the coastal areas have lows between 12 and 16 degrees Celsius, mostly in June and July. On the other hand, temperatures in the plateau areas tend to be even lower—as low as 1 degree Celsius at the highest points.
Southeast Brazil
The climate of Brazil in the southeast has a climate that is very different in terms of temperature because of where the latitude is, how uneven the land is, and how the current systems affect it.
In the southeast of Brazil, along the border between Sao Paulo and Parana, the average temperature is between 20 and 24 degrees Celsius.
The average temperature can drop to 18 degrees Celsius in the region’s highlands, such as the Serra do Espinhaco, Serra da Mantiqueira, and Serra do Mar.
During summer, especially in January, the average temperature is between 30 and 32 degrees Celsius in the valleys of the rivers So Francisco and Jequitinhonha, in the Zona da Mata (Zone of the Forest) of Minas Gerais, in the coastal lowlands, and to the West of the state of So Paulo.
During the winter, the average temperature is between 6 and 20 degrees Celsius, and the coldest it gets is between 8 and -4 degrees Celsius.
When it comes to rain, two places in the southeast get a lot of it: the area along the coast and the Serra de Mar, where southerly currents cause the rain.
And the area west of Minas Gerais to the Rio de Janeiro Municipal District, where westerly currents cause the rain. More than 59 inches of rain falls each year in these two places.
Northern Brazil
A big part of the Amazon Basin is in the northern part of Brazil. This makes it the largest area of hot, humid forests on Earth. The area is cut in half by Ecuador and has low elevations, ranging from 0 to 200 meters above sea level.
The average annual temperature in the north is between 24 and 26 degrees Celsius, which makes it a very hot place to live. Summer and fall are the rainiest times of the year in northern Brazil.
The only places where this isn’t true are Roraima and the northern part of the Amazonas, where the most rain falls in winter because of the weather in the Northern Hemisphere.
Southern Brazil
The climate of Brazil in the southern part of Brazil is in a temperate zone below the Tropic of Capricorn. The circulation of the south affects the area, which is why it rains mostly in the summer.
The system of circulation in the West also affects the area. It brings rain, storms, and sometimes hail and can cause winds as fast as 60 to 90 km/h.
In the southeast, summers are hot, and winters are cold. The average annual temperature is between 14 and 22 degrees Celsius, and it can get as low as 10 degrees Celsius in places that are more than 1,100 meters above sea level.
In the summer, the average temperature is over 24 degrees Celsius, and the average temperature of the River Uruguay is over 26 degrees Celsius.
The average temperature in the winter, especially in July, stays between 10 and 15 degrees Celsius. The average highest temperature is also low. The big valleys and the coast are between 20 and 24 degrees Celsius, and the plateau is between 16 and 20 degrees Celsius.
Typically, the low temperature is between 6 and 12 degrees Celsius, but it is not unusual to see temperatures as low as 0 degrees Celsius with frost and snow.
Middle-West Brazil
In the last climate region of Brazil, the Middle-West, there are three systems of circulation:
- The disturbing currents of the West cause unstable weather in the summer.
- The currents of the north cause rain to fall to the north of the region in the summer, fall, and winter.
- The currents of the south are often brought in by polar fronts in the winter and cause long-lasting rain.
The average annual temperature in the northern and southern parts of the Middle-West region is 22 degrees Celsius, and the average annual temperature in the Chapadas area can be anywhere from 20 to 22 degrees Celsius.
Temperatures are often quite high in the spring and summer, with the average hottest month being between 24 and 27 degrees Celsius. September is the warmest month in this area, with highs between 30 and 36 degrees Celsius.
Polar winds bring cold weather to the middle-west of Brazil in the winter, which makes the weather cold. The average low temperature is between 8 and 18 degrees Celsius and often gets below 0 degrees Celsius.
Even though the weather in the Middle West is affected by three different systems, there is enough rain for everyone. Most of the time, it has tropical seasons, with the most rain in the summer and the least in the winter.
Between November and March, the Middle-West gets more than 70% of its total rain and snow. From June to September, which is winter, it doesn’t rain very often, so it’s very dry.
Best time to visit Brazil
It depends on where you want to go and what you want to see and do. The best time to visit southern Brazil, which includes Sao Paulo, is from November to March when the weather is nice and warm.
Along the inland plateau and in cities like Brasilia, the weather is also best during the summer months in the southern hemisphere. Because of how high this part of Brazil is, the winters are very cold.
Brazil’s beaches can be fun all year, but as you move south, the water gets slightly cooler. Beaches like the one in Salvador de Bahia are great all year long. Last but not least is Amazon.
This part of Brazil is known for its rain. What you want to see will help you decide when is the best time to go to Amazon. When it rains in November, December, January, February, March, April, and May, some of the more remote areas become easier to get to. From June to October, when it rains less, it is easier to walk through parts of the Amazon and see its beauty.
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