Chance of snow and freezing rain in RS and SC

Chance of snow and freezing rain in RS and SC


The first weekend of July 2024 in southern Brazil will experience various types of precipitation and other phenomena, including:

The first weekend of July 2024 will see precipitation of various types and other phenomena in Rio Grande do Sul and Santa Catarina. There is a risk of thunderstorms and heavy rains, frosts and even some winter precipitation.




Areas with chances of winter precipitation on July 6 and 7, 2024 (Art: Climatempo)

Intense cold in southern Brazil

The new cold air mass of polar origin is advancing forcefully over Argentina and will cause a new drop in temperature over the Southern Region, but this time in the center of the polar mass, which is the region where the cold is most intense. It will pass over eastern Argentina and Uruguay, without actually advancing over the southern region of Brazil, as happened last weekend.

The strongest cooling should remain over Rio Grande do Sul and part of Santa Catarina, but temperatures will not be as low as last weekend. The difference is that this time the cold will come with a lot of humidity.

The heavy clouds forecast for Friday and the weekend in southern Brazil will prevent the nighttime temperature from dropping too much. The cloudiness will act as a blanket, preventing intense cooling at the surface.

Chance of winter precipitation

This time we should not see widespread negative temperatures like last weekend, however, in the highest regions of the mountains of Rio Grande do Sul and Santa Catarina, the combination of a lot of humidity and a lot of cold could generate winter precipitation such as frost, rain and even snow.

On Friday and over the weekend, most areas of northern Rio Grande do Sul and Santa Catarina will have cloudy skies, rains that could be heavy and voluminous and cause some discomfort to the population. But the atmosphere will not be cold enough to form snow inside the clouds.

The cold may be enough to cause snowfall only in the higher regions of the mountains of Rio Grande do Sul and Santa Catarina. The possibility of snowfall is not high, but it cannot be ruled out over the weekend.

Frost forecast

This weekend, frost could occur in the far south of Rio Grande do Sul, bordering Uruguay. The area with the possibility of frost is marked in light blue on the map above. Conditions for widespread frost like last weekend are not in place.

Snow in 2024

The year 2024 is expected to be very cold in Brazil. Before the passage of the strong cold currents of late June and early July, polar air entered the center-south of Brazil at the end of May.

There was a brief snowfall on May 28. The phenomenon was observed in São Joaquim, in the Santa Catarina mountain range, with light and rapid precipitation.

So if it snows this weekend, it will be the second time this year.

What is freezing rain?

It is one of the types of winter precipitation, precipitation associated with freezing places, where it is cold below 0°C.

Freezing rain occurs when a snowflake leaving a cloud passes through a layer of air with a positive temperature, but then refreezes when it encounters freezing air beneath the cloud base.



Winter Precipitation Types (Source: NOAA/NWS)

What is frost?

Frost has nothing to do with snow or freezing rain. The first big difference is that frost is not precipitation, it does not fall from clouds.

White frost is the freezing of dew on surfaces. Learn more about frost here.

Frost occurs in cloudless skies or with very few clouds. For snow to fall, a special cloud must form.

Source: Terra

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