Considered a ‘rare phenomenon’, cold weather in Amazonas alerts authorities and causes concern

Considerado ‘fenômeno raro’, chegada de friagem ao Amazonas alerta autoridades e gera preocupação

July 28, 2021

09:07

Bruno Pacheco – from Cenarium

MANAUS – The arrival of a cold air mass, this week, to the North region, which can make the temperature drop about 6ºC to 8ºC in Amazonas, according to the forecast of the National Institute of Meteorology (Inmet), is considered a ‘rare phenomenon’, which generated alert among authorities and concern among experts, because the cold air mass has the possibility to arrive with intensity in riverside communities in the state.

“Cold fronts are rare phenomenon in the Central Amazon, but they happen when more intense polar cold fronts arrive in Brazil in the winter months. The monitoring done by institutions that study and monitor the climate detected this polar mass more intense than normal, so its arrival has been awaited with concern”, highlighted the environmentalist master degree in Ecology, Carlos Durigan, from the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) Brazil.

The cold front is expected to reach the Amazon on Thursday, 29, and stay until next Saturday, 1º, caused by cold air mass that should hit the South, Southeast, Midwest and North regions of Brazil. In a statement, the Government of Amazonas communicated the population about the cold and said that the Juruá, Purus, Madeira, Alto Solimões, Médio Solimões, Baixo Solimões and Rio Negro rivers should be most affected.

In addition, the government said it released the information about the temperature decline so that there is knowledge and preparation on the part of the population, especially those who live in rural and riverside areas that could be affected.

Intense Cold

The environmentalist Carlos Durigan recalls that temperatures below 15ºC have already been recorded in the Amazon by the arrival of colds, but are rare to happen. According to him, generally, the interior of the state usually feels the cold more, because of the climate that is usually hot and humid during most of the year, with temperatures above 30ºC.

“In general, the cold fronts that arrive from the South Pole at this time of the year move north/northwest through the center of South America and, when they are very intense, they reach lower latitudes and tend to move northwest, which is why they hit the western Amazon states like Rondônia and Acre, and even part of Amazonas with greater intensity”, he highlights.

For Durigan, weather events such as the cold front have been occurring more frequently around the world and may be associated with global climate change.

“We have been witnessing the occurrence of extreme weather events with greater frequency all over the planet. These increasingly frequent events may be associated with global climate change, as demonstrated by studies promoted by the IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change),” he concluded.

Snow

On Monday, 26, Inmet also warned that the chance persists, between the 28th and 29th of this month, of another snowfall event in the Serra Gaúcha and Catarinense, in Santa Catarina. The agency does not rule out the possibility of freezing rain and or snow in the southeastern mountains in Rio Grande do Sul.

“The persistence of consecutive days with negative minimum temperatures in the higher altitude areas of the South region (between -6°C and -8°C) and maximum temperatures below 10°C between July 28 and 31, continues to be the major differential of this cold air mass,” points Inmet.

According to the weather institute, the most critical days in terms of lower temperatures, minimum and maximum for the Southeast, will be the 29th and 30th, with lows between -2°C and -5°C in the Serra da Mantiqueira, the border between São Paulo and Minas Gerais, and highs below 15°C in part of the region, especially in the metropolitan areas of São Paulo and Belo Horizonte; negative temperatures are also expected in the south of Mato Grosso do Sul and southeastern São Paulo.