Severe Weather in South America: Tornadoes and Severe Storms

[Alexandre Aguiar]

Severe Weather in South America: Funnel cloud on Feb 3rd.

This thread will report South America's severe weather events as tornadoes and strong to severe thunderstorms. To mark the beginning of 2007 the first tornado reported this year in Brazil took place on January 19th. at the city of Promissao, countryside area of the state of Sao Paulo. There was no report of victims, but the tornado produced heavy damage in a well defined area.

This past weekend (January 20th), strong thunderstorms affected the Brazilian state of Parana. In Marechal Candido Rondon, a 200 feet TV station antenna fell. In Apucarana damage was massive in a very small portion of the city and we do not rule a tornado.

Earlier, on January 10th, a strong thunderstorm brought 130 km/h wind to the city of Rosario, Province of Santa Fe, in Argentina. Three people died.

http://www.metsul.com/secoes/visualiza.php?cod_subsecao=28&cod_texto=484

December 2006 was a very stormy month in the Southern Cone of South America (Uruguay, Argentina, Southern Brazil and Paraguay). At least 20 people died in tornadoes and severe t-storms that affected the region during the month.

Alexandre

 

[Alexandre Aguiar]

On January 3rd. an one hour storm dumped 5 inches of rain in the southern districts of Porto Alegre, capital of the southernmost state of Rio Grande do Sul in Brazil. Just 5 miles to the north the rain observed was just half an inch. One of our weather spotters took this picture from the International Airport.



More photos of this storm available at:

http://www.metsul.com/secoes/visualiza.php?cod_subsecao=28&cod_texto=520

 

[Tarmo Tanilsoo]

Alexandre, how far was tornado from Sao Paulo? My uncle's son lives there.

 

[Scott A. Kampas]

Parts of Argentina and adjacent Brazil have some of the highest significant tornado activity in the world.

Wikipedia southern hemisphere tornadoes

Tornadoes in Brazil

 

[Alexandre Aguiar]

Tarmo, the tornado was observed in Promissao, 466 km far from Sao Paulo's capital. Scott, yes, we have our own tornado alley over here (central and North Argentina, Paraguay and part of Southern Brazil). The most devastating tornado in Southern Brazil in the recent years took place in the city of Muitos Capoes on August 25th. (winter !!) 2005. 70% of the small city located at 3.000 feet of altitude was completely destroyed. The photos are shocking:

http://www.metsul.com/secoes/visualiza.php?cod_subsecao=28&cod_texto=221

Another, big, huge event, ocurred on October 11th 2000. Local media said it was just a powerful tornado but the damage was severe in many areas in a range of 70 km/h. It was, in fact, a tornado outbreak. The event took place just east of the capital of Rio Grande do Sul (Porto Alegre) in the Aguas Claras region.

http://www.metsul.com/secoes/visualiza.php?cod_subsecao=28&cod_texto=309

Yes, we have tornadoes (many) !!

Best wishes from the south to all !!!

 

[Alexandre Aguiar]

A violent hail storm affected Friday (26) night the city of San Rafael in the Province of Mendoza in western Argentina. Local residents that are used to hail storms due to the climate conditions of the region say they never saw large hail like this.

The storms produced damages but no personal injuries, according to the Argentinian press. We will try to get further pictures to publish in our site.

 

[Alexandre Aguiar]

The most notable tornado event, as I mentioned earlier in this topic, took place in 2000. It was the night of October 2000 (a La Niña year). Media reported just one tornado, but if fact there were several tornadoes tocuhing down that night. Damage affected different regions in a region 100 km wide. Seven people died. In the city of Viamao, just 30 km north of Porto Alegre, capital of the state of Rio Grande do Sul with 1.5 million inhabitans, damage was widespread and catastrophic.

http://www.metsul.com/secoes/visualiza.php?cod_subsecao=28&cod_texto=309

The same event destroyed a small airport and many airplanes in the southern part of Porto Alegre. Hail was so large in the tornado affected areas that windchills of the cars were smashed and motorists were seen in dispair with their faces covered in blood in a main route that connects Porto Alegre to the beaches.

Other major tornadic event occured in 2003. It was winter and the city partly destroyed is one the the coldest in Rio Grande do Sul. Sao Francisco de Paula is at 990 meter (3.000 feeet) above sea level and was hit hard by a tornado on July 2007 2003. See a picture below:

July 17, 2001. Another tornado in the hills of Rio Grande do Sul. Bom Jesus (1.100 meters or 3.300 feet above sea level) was caught by a violent tornado that partially destroyed the small city in the Sierra of Rio Grande do Sul.

These are the most devastating events since 2000 in Southern Brazil. In the central part of the coutry in 2005 the traffic cameras of a freeway caught a F3 tornado destroyring the outskirts of the state of Indaiatuba in the state of Sao Paulo. It was the first multivortex tornado documented in photo and video in South America.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LWpBFuJpHvM

(MUST SEE VIDEO)

See, there will be plenty of news of severe weather in South America.

Alexandre

 

[Alexandre Aguiar]

JUST IN TO OUR WEATHER CENTER:

A tornado leveled a small village in northern Argentina Friday night (Jauneau 26th). Local residents described an intense sound that lasted around a minute. Damage was reported in a 500 meter (180 feet aprox.) wide area that extended for 4 kilometers (2 miles aprox.) in small village of Asco in the Province of Santiago del Estero. No one died but damages mounted to properties in this very impoverished region of northern Argentina.

Some pictures available at our Tornado World blog:

http://www.metsul.com/blog/?cod_blog=3

Local news report (in Spanish):

http://www.cadena3.com.ar/noticias_ampliada.asp?mas=90242

Last December another tornado brought damage to Santiago del Estero. Pictures and video (Portuguese and Spanish) available at:

http://www.metsul.com/secoes/visualiza.php?cod_subsecao=28&cod_texto=410

Santiago del Estero is located in the South America's Tornado Alley.

Alexandre

 

[Alexandre Aguiar]

A funnel cloud was observed over the city of Franca (central state of Sao Paulo in Brazil) last Saturday (February 3). Some pictures were taken by Tiago Brandao of Comercio da Franca newspaper and can be seen at our Tornado World Blog:

http://www.metsul.com/blog/?cod_blog=3

 

[Alexandre Aguiar]

A severe weather outbreak is underway in South America. Last night radar from Central Argentina.

An incredible event. Bariloche, in Southern Argentina, where snow is uncommon in the summer time, had a snow event that has been considered the most important this time of the year in more than a decade. Check the pictures here:

The pattern in the central and southern portions of the continent resembles the months of fall and not the peak of the summer in this part of the globe. It snowed more in a single summer day in Bariloche than all the winter so far in New York City.

 

[Alexandre Aguiar]

A tornado affected part of the city of Salto in the countryside of Uruguay Wednesday night. Two people were injured and 50 homes suffered partial ou total damage. It is hard to get news from this corner of our neighboring country, but I was able to get a photo of the damages and the front pages of the local newspapers.

 

[Ben Baranowski]

Alexandre, funny you mention the Mendoza region of Argentina. I'm currently reviewing a paper for MWR that's looking at 2 hailstorms in the region. Being from the US, I was suprised to find that, specifically sig. hail, is very common in the region. It's good to see scientists producing papers about svr. weather in S. Am. I hope this is a trend that will continue.

 

[Alexandre Aguiar]

Dear Ben

We a are a private weather company in Southern Brazil. As we are very close to Argentina and Uruguay we dedicate a lot of attention to both countries. Differently from other weather centers in Brazil (public and private) we use our webpage as a weather and climate news homepage. We bring, of course, weather forecasts, but we conduct a huge effort to offer the public a lot of information regarding weather events in our country, the continent and around the world. The idea is: to understand local climate you need to have eyes to the world. As Communications Director of MetSul, It is my duty to organize and edit all the news content. So, there is not a single day that I do not perform a search in regionals newspapers of South America seeking weather news. The most interesting weather phenomena I consider to happen in the Mendoza region in Argentina is the Zonda Wind, just like the Santa Ana (California) and the Foehn (Alps).

http://www.metsul.com/secoes/visualiza.php?cod_subsecao=28&cod_texto=76

We would be pleased to help you or any StormTrack member if there is need of information from this corner of the globe. Sorry for the off-topic, but there is a great distortion about life in this region. When people think about Brazil three ideas come to mind: forest, beach and soccer. Fortunately, I live in Southern Brazil that is a very good region (Midwest style) with important urban centers (big cities) and agriculture as main economic activity. Life standards here calculated by the UN are considered to be similar to some regions in North America and Europe.

 

[Alexandre Aguiar]

Waterspout this afternoon in the city of Tubarao, state of Santa Catarina, Southern Brazil:

More on tornadores in South America and around the world here.

 

[Alexandre Aguiar]

My town (Porto Alegre, Brazil) one hour ago:

No wind gusts, but 3 inches of rain in just one hour. Severe flash flooding in the Downtown area and the suburbs..