“In more than thirty years of weather forecasts in the state of Rio Grande do Sul, we have never had such heavy snow showers with such reduced visibility,” Argentine television quoted a source from the Brazilian meteorological institute MetSul as saying.
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“I’m 62 years old and I’ve never seen snow, you know? Seeing the beauty of nature is indescribable, “truck driver Iodor Goncalves Marques from Cambar do Sul told Globo television. Although snow and ice covered the roads, most Brazilians did not bother. People took pictures of the snow, the children built snowmen and rolled.
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It snowed in more than 50 cities in the Brazilian states of Rio Grande do Sul, Santa Catarina and Paraná, while snow also fell at lower altitudes.
The southernmost Brazilian state of Rio Grande do Sul, bordering Argentina and Uruguay, was most affected by the snow, where it snowed in 33 cities such as Pelotas, São Francisco de Paula, Gramado, Carlos Barbosa, Bagé, Herval, Piratini, Caxias do Sul, Marau, Vacarías , São Joaquim and Farroupilha. Freezing rain has been reported in at least seven other cities in the same state, according to the Brazilian meteorological service Somar Meteorologia.
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A Brazilian is playing with the snow of Sao Joaqui
Photo: Mycchel Legnaghi, ČTK / AP
Exceptional frosts in southern Brazil have also increased coffee prices on world markets, as frost threatens low-temperature-sensitive coffee trees. This week, the price of arabica coffee rose to its highest value in more than six and a half years. Brazil is the largest producer of coffee in the world.
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The low temperatures should also affect the south of the Brazilian states of Goiás and Mato Grosso do Sul, where corn is grown, on Friday. Then the mass of cold air should move over the states of São Paulo and Minas Gerais, where the center of sugar, citrus and coffee production is located.
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