The dry season in central Brazil lasts from April/May to September/ October. The last time it rained in Brazilian capital Brasília this year was on May 26. There was one of three isolated showers in the month of May. In reality the rains ended in April.
Many visitors to Brasília are shocked. After all, they expect a lush tropical landscape and what they get is a brownish, gray dusty place with many black patches along the highway where the brush has been burnt off. The dry season is the burning season.
A strong cold front moved up from Argentina over the weekend, lowering temperatures significantly in southern Brazil where some snow fell in higher areas. That was the third snowfall this year down there – a little unusual. Ah, climate change.
Meteorologist Giovani Dolif says that the cold front will not make a lot of difference in central Brazil. It will be a little colder, but the rest remains the same – no chance of rain. That means humidity will be very low. In Brasília humidity reached 7% last week.
And the burning goes on. The Space Research Institute (“Inpe”), which uses satellite images to monitor the situation, says it registered 15,000 brushfires in Brazil over the weekend.
Large fires in at least four states (Mato Grosso, Pará and Maranhão) have been brought under control, but two fires in Tocantins continue to blaze out of control in two national park areas: Araguaia and Serra do Carmo.
