Friday, June 8, 2012

-21C ( Below Freezing) in Santa Catarina, Brazil



Until very recently Brazil was basically known by Carnaval, Soccer and the Amazon, but this is changing now.
Brazil now became "A bola da vez", sort of fashionable, hell even Macy's has a hole section dedicated for "Products from Brazil" with soaps, perfumes, cosmetics, pottery, shoes, and clothes from famous Brazilian designers, among other cool Brazilian products. I still need to do a Macy's run to check it out and will write a post about it.
I met this very nice lady on a plane yesterday, and had a great conversation with her mom. They both live in the Miami area. Margie, Libby's mom, told me she lives in the Miami Beach area known as little Brazil where a lot of wealthy Brazilians live and she is very familiar with everything Brazil.
Libby, (wrote a comment on our blog yesterday), told me she sees a lot of wealthy Brazilians who shop at her store, and she said, "Brazilians spend a lot of money in Miami"! Yes, Libby, it's ridiculous, I know, ridiculous as in cool. It is a much needed boost to Florida's hurting economy.
I explained to Libby and her mom that things are very expensive in Brazil, principally electronics and clothes, because, mainly of high import taxes to try to boost the local industry.
But, before I go into my usual endless side tracking obsession, back to talking about Brazil weather :)
Many uninformed people have wrong assumptions, perceptions about Brazil.
The most common misconception is that Brazil is HOT, all of Brazil is HOT like the Amazon.
And that couldn't be further from the truth.
Yes, off course, that are parts of Brazil that are really HOT.
That are parts of Brazil that have very MILD climate, like my beloved and so missed state of Sao Paulo.
Sao Paulo for the most part has very pleasant weather, the city of Sao Paulo if you ask me, has awesome weather. Very pleasant, pleasant as in you never need Air Conditioner pleasant.
You will definitely see Air Conditioners in Malls and large office high rises, you know the glass tower type of buildings. But you really don't actually need an A/C to survive.
In Texas and Florida for example, you DIE without an Air Conditioner, at least I would, and Gil wouldn't survive for 10 minutes without A/C in Miami or Dallas.
Hell, we don't even turn our furnace in Rhode Island, ok, we set our thermostat at 50F degrees, and the furnace rarely ever kicks in...yes, our little Cape is super well insulated, and we are hard core winter survivors from Sao Paulo. We enjoy a chilly house, we love to sleep with lot's of heavy blankets. The best heavy blankets we have ever found are from Sao Paulo. You want a good heavy blanket that will last forever, buy Tognato Brand, MADE IN BRAZIL. They are awesome.
We have 3 Tognato blankets, my 1st one, my parents bought me when I was 3 years old. My 2nd Tognato my parents bought me when I turned 18 and my brother and his wife gave me my 3rd Tognato Blanket when Gil and I moved to New England.
I have to say our awesome heavy Tognato blankets have kept us warm and cozy in the coldest New England winters, yes, even without the help of our furnace. :)

A cold winter day in Santa Catarina, Brazil, where my mother was born
Brazil has areas, mainly south of Sao Paulo that get really cold, as cold as New England for example.
Snow happens, but is not so common in many areas of Brazil principally because our winters are dry. We lack the precipitation for snow, not the cold. It gets really cold and if we had more humid winters, you would see a lot more snow in Brazilian winters, including areas of Sao Paulo, Rio de Janeiro and Minas Gerais, that do get cold enough for snow, but don't actually see the white flakes because our winters are so dry.
The city of Sao Paulo had one registered snow fall in the beginning of the last century.
Frosts are very common in Sao Paulo during the winter months.
Santa Catarina yesterday was so cold that one town registered Minus 21 Centigrades.


Entrance to Gramado in Rio Grande do Sul, after light snow


Snow covered woods in the state of Parana, near Curitiba

Snow covered home house in Santa Catarina, Brazil

You can see the report on how cold it got in Santa Catarina yesterday HERE



Vento causa sensação térmica de -21ºC em SC

Agência Estado Em São Paulo

A região sul do país voltou a registrar temperaturas abaixo de zero na madrugada desta sexta-feira (8), segundo o Instituto Nacional de Meteorologia (Inmet) e do Centro de Informações de Recursos Ambientais e de Hidrometeorologia de Santa Catarina (Ciram).
Em Santa Catarina, o ar frio e seco de origem polar no Sul do Brasil causou frio ainda mais intenso, com o registro de geada de intensidade moderada a forte em boa parte do Estado.
Em Bom Jardim da Serra, no Planalto Sul, a temperatura de -9,2ºC, com o vento de intensidade fraca a moderada (20km/h), causou sensação térmica de -21ºC.



Ray




14 comments:

Alex said...

I would die in 1 second. -23C is freaking unacceptable.

American Heart Brazilian Soul said...

Alex,

Ok, so I can assume Santa Catarina is out of your Brazil plans? :)


PS: By the way, you are not one of the "uninformed" people I was talking about. You know too much by the way!!! Hell, I have been learning about Brazil with you for a little while now... ;)

Abracos

Ray

Born Again Brazilian said...

Yes, I was one of those uninformed people. My husband used to tell me that Sao Paulo was cold, and being from Chicago, I laughed it off. But SP is damn cold, a different kind of cold, and a more inconvenient cold since most of the apartments, at least in my neighborhood, do not have heat.

However, as always, I learned something new from your post. I had no idea it could be freezing cold.

Jessica said...

Thank you, person in America for keeping me informed about what's going on down here. I really should watch the news more. -21C in SC??!! I had no idea it could get THAT cold. That's a typical Canadian winter's day!! My husband and I are shaking our heads in disbelief. And I've never heard of those blankets - need to find one, as I was wearing three layers even here in Santos yesterday. :o)

American Heart Brazilian Soul said...

B.A.B,

Don't worry, I had never heard of Chicago's deep dish Pizza until I got here either...we are even... ;)

Ray

American Heart Brazilian Soul said...

Jessica,

I am writing a post on Tognato Blankets now and will post the link for you.
They have some great heavy blankets that will last you a life time, they are not expensive what so ever and they are locally made.
I saw many stores in Santos carry Tognato blankets.


Abracos
Ray

Born Again Brazilian (not religion, just Brazilian) said...

Yum! How often do you go to Chicago? I'll be in Chicago soon!

Unknown said...

The photos are beautiful! Now I want to visit...is there any good snowboarding/skiing??

And yea..I'm freezing in my SP apartment with terrible windows...I need one of those blankets!

Zoe said...

I'd love for the world to work out a mutual agreement for people in the northern hemisphere to stop thinking Brazil is a HOT country year round, and for people in the southern hemisphere to stop thinking Canada (and now I can add Russia to the list) are COLD year round. I experienced -30ºC this winter in Moscow, and I've done -20ºC in Montreal... but I've also sweated through 40ºC heat waves in both cities. It's colder in Santa Catarina than it ever gets in Vancouver :) My husband and I both agree that we feel colder in Sao Paulo in the winter than here in Moscow.

American Heart Brazilian Soul said...

Amber,

No Skiing in Santa Catarina. We Brazilians fly a little south to Bariloche or different awesome areas in Chile, only a couple hours away flying.
These blankets can be found all over the place. The web site has a store locator if you don't want to look around and go straight where you know you will be able to find them.


Ray

American Heart Brazilian Soul said...

Zoe,

You are totally correct, I absolutely understand what you are saying.
Gil and I always talk about how mild Sao Paulo weather really is, it is never as hot in Sao Paulo as it is in a Toronto, Dallas or Chicago summer.
We also think the cold in Sao Paulo penetrates your bones like nothing I ever felt in the US winters. Sometimes it feels like it's colder in Sao Paulo than in New England, and I am not talking about the lack of insulation or heating in Sao Paulo. I am talking about comparing cold outside in Sao Paulo versus cold outside in New England...

Thanks for you comment

Abracos
Ray

Unknown said...

I lived for a long time in Louisiana and it is the same way. It's because of the humidity. It makes it feel so much colder even if the temperature is higher.

Unknown said...

Thanks for the skiing tips!! I'll definitely get one of those blankets before it gets freezing here.

Anonymous said...

My boyfriend tells me his fingers are gonna fall off when we chat on the Internet. He complains it's too cold at night. He's from Sao Paulo. And I'm from the US (mid west) just below Canada. I would never think it could be that chilly in Sao Paulo. Brazil = hot weather. I thought he's just exaggerating the weather a little bit. :D

Thanks for the post!