It's 52 Celsius in Rio de Janeiro today

11/13/23 @Gasparzinho 777  I grew up in the Capital District of New York State, where as a friend liked to say, we had four seasons:  June, July, August, and Winter; then topped that off with 20 years in Chicago.  So I love Summer, and Manaus is like heaven to me.  Twelve Julys a year, and July was always my favorite month.  And being only about 200 miles south of the Equator, we have twelve hours of light and twelve hours of darkness every day, give or take a few minutes.  I think that the famous "change of seasons" is vastly overrated.

Our temperature range is even tighter than Rio's -- average highs are 31.9 (although it got into the 40s for a few days last week) and average lows are 23.4.  That's sweater weather for the natives.  The daily mean only vacillates between 26 and 28 all year-round, and it's usually breezy.  There's a lot of rain -- we ARE in the middle of a rainforest, after all -- but far from unbearable.  I really couldn't be happier.

So, if I said the 3 words......."lake effect snow".......you'd immediately understand kkkkkkkkkk !!!

At the supermarkets where I live, ice cream would be totally sold out today. It's like a treasury bill, the hotter it gets, the higher the price is stamped on the box.......etc.

Right now Cariocas head to any mall for the free AC......or to a cinema.

   11/13/23 So, if I said the 3 words......."lake effect snow".......you'd immediately understand kkkkkkkkkk !!!    -@Gasparzinho 777

The first time I ever went to Buffalo -- a city that I later came to love in the Summer -- was a frigid day in March when the wind was blowing down the Niagara River so hard that the water level in the navigation channel between the river bank and the retaining wall couldn't equalize with the water level of the main channel of the river.  I looked at those two parts of the same river, one sitting about three feet above the other because of the pressure of the wind, and thought to myself, "Hell must look like this!"

So yes, I understand "lake effect snow" and everything associated with it.   😂

The actual ambient temperature today in Rio was 36 degrees c. on average, not 52c, that is called the "thermal sensation temperature".   The ambient temperature today in Sao Jose do Rio Preto, SP, where my apartment is was 43c.

Beer is a diuretic.  The more you drink, the thirsty you get after a while. And if you are German, Beer is food. The Brits,  I heard, drink it warm ( ewwwwhhh !! ). 

As for Rio, the cooler places are by Tijuca Florest, and by the Botanic Gardens close to Leblon. Yet, living by the beach on a stacked box, there is no A/C that is going to save you.   You can alway head mountain up by Teresopolis, Petropolis ( lots of breweries there ), Miguel Pereira to soothe your body temperature.

Living on a coastal community is great when you live on the Northern Hemisphere, so winters aren't as severe as in farther inland. On places like Rio, you asked for it, you get your piece of hell. It shouldn't be so, as your backdrop is the Atlantic Florest.  Problem is, you have a huge heat sink called the City of Rio de Janeiro ( Sao Paulo is just as worse, btw )

Another brewer town used to be Ribeirao Preto, on the account of CIA Antarctica Paulista. They run a beer on tap cafe there, very popular.   And in Sao Paulo, it used to be by Mooca, the defunct Brewery ( which also made  bottled soda pop ) lined along the rail line. You could smell the scent of corn starch in the air. 

if you are on the golden age bracket, and want to escape the heat, assuming you live either in Rio or Sao Paulo, I would choose to head to the water springs circuit on Sao Paulo-Minas Gerais Border. 

Cities like....

Aguas de Lindoia  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C3%81guas_de_Lindoia

Caxambu https://pt.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caxambu

Águas de São Pedro

Caldas da Imperatriz ( for those in Santa Catarina)

The keyword for your search is " Estancia Hidromineral" , which is the equivalent to Springs Resort

My wife said to me that Sampa is having a few blackouts today due to the heavy demand placed on the power grid by everyone using AC.

You surviving Tony ?

The weather on the island where I live on the beach in NE Brail so so boring!

26C - 32C average all year round, never drops below 22C, never rises above 34C, T-shirts, shorts and flipflops 24/7/365. Wonderful onshore cooling breeze everyday. Oh, how I miss the UK climate!!!!

    My wife said to me that Sampa is having a few blackouts today due to the heavy demand placed on the power grid by everyone using AC.
You surviving Tony ?
   

    -@Gasparzinho 777

Not at all affected by the outages. Only the occasional  few seconds drop, thanks to some fickle substation where I live. And occasionally, an outage. Power cables out here are not buried, so the slightest rainfall with a whiff my affect power distribution.

I live right outside Sao Paulo, by the ABC Region, specifically the town of Santo Andre.  We get our power from Billings Damn. My shout out to  all you Canuck Expats out there, this Damn was built by the Light Company from Canada at the turn of the XX Century, now Brookfield, which eventually became Eletripaulo, and  then Enel. Once a  Canadian concession , then State Owned, then American, now Italians .

Most of the City of Sao Paulo gets their hydropower otherwise from the Guarapiranga Basin, which is a different watershed. 

And while at it, the Cantareira Watershed feeds Sao Paulo and Campinas MSAs. The 2013/2014 drought brought folks from Sao Paulo to their knees. 

The Billings, for all you novices, is the watershed that permeates right outside Sao Bernardo do Campo, and touches Sao Bernardo by the way of the VW Assembly Plant around Riacho Grande. 

The Billings  basin also feeds the Santos and Cubatao regions by the coastline through the Usina Hidrelétrica Henry Borden ( James borden Hydro  Power Plant ). You see the gigantic pipes and power lines when you descent the Anchieta Highway or the Imigrantes Highway,. that's theirs. 

Santo Andre has also another watershed, the Pedroso, but this one is only use for the water treatment plants.

I would not recommend to swimm on neither any of those waters. Many the adventurous drowned dead on those deadly waters, none by poisoning, all by lack of buoyancy.

Trade Secrets

In Sao Paulo, there are whole streets you can live without being affected by drops on water supply, and even perhaps power.

   
   11/13/23 So, if I said the 3 words......."lake effect snow".......you'd immediately understand kkkkkkkkkk !!!    -@Gasparzinho 777

The first time I ever went to Buffalo -- a city that I later came to love in the Summer -- was a frigid day in March when the wind was blowing down the Niagara River so hard that the water level in the navigation channel between the river bank and the retaining wall couldn't equalize with the water level of the main channel of the river.  I looked at those two parts of the same river, one sitting about three feet above the other because of the pressure of the wind, and thought to myself, "Hell must look like this!"

So yes, I understand "lake effect snow" and everything associated with it.   😂
   

    -@abthree

I've been a couple times in Buffalo. One for business.   I plan to be there someday. 

Downtown with all those Art Deco Buildings, it is a can't miss. 

And the way Frederick Law Olmstead built the city landscape is unmatched anywhere else in the world, to the best of my knowledge.....

He was the commissioned to build a public park in the city by City Leaders and their prosperous coming of age Business Leadership.

On those days, no drones, helicopters have not being invented, yet undeterred Frederick Law saw something no others ever imagined.... Instead of building a park over the City, why not to build a city over a park?

So it became, that the city is crisscrossed by public gardens in a grid like pattern with intervals of residential squares graced by public gardens. 

Edward Moses, later, managed to ruin the city by cutting it through a highway by the river, against the will of Buffalo's citizenry, but the city is still as good as a hidden treasure.   

That alone overcompensates the blistery snow buried winters folks there must endure.

frigid day in March when the wind was blowing down the Niagara River so hard that the water level in the navigation channel between the river bank and the retaining wall couldn't equalize with the water level of the main channel of the river. 
    -@abthree

A little north of Buffalo, in Niagara Falls, I did not believe that the whole of the American Falls could freeze stiff with no more flow but it happened.

The only time that I would choose cold weather over warm weather is on a ski slope.

On balance, it's a lot easier to cool down in comfort (AC, water, fan, ice cream, cold drinks etc...) than to keep warm.

Count your blessings....

I'm from Wisconsin where we were used to the "polar vortex" out of Canada and August was most always miserably hot and humid. No second guessing the climactic changes we now see and are going to change all of our lives. I wouldn't want to live in a large hot city where the only escape from the heat is with AC just as I wouldn't want to live in Wisconsin without central heating. It just keeps getting hotter Madison's "Days of Ice Cover" on Lake Mendota (since 1862) can attest: https://climatology.nelson.wisc.edu/fir … e-mendota/

A good place to go for those interested in Brazilian meteorology is https://portal.inmet.gov.br/. You can find the hottest/coldest, wettest/driest, nation-wide or specific to your location.  I haven't found a way to get a good historical string of temp data going back in time yet but I'm still poking around there.

I watch my own a bit and you can see by this last month's data that I do OK by temperature: http://berigan.com/images/20231016-2023 … midity.jpg

I only wish we had a bit more rain. Our principle reservoir (built in 1957) is fed from what has been called the driest part of Brazil - the caatinga. It is augmented (our water supply) by the water from the Rio São Francisco which currently is in good condition: https://www.gov.br/ana/pt-br/sala-de-si … acao-atual

Stay cool!

52?? You must be reading it from your car which isn't  accurate n has been sitting in the sun. It's  only 30 there today. It's 38c here in Fernandopolis.

It's the "feels like" or sensacao termica.......Rio is a giant slab of concrete that holds the heat.

Seems like many of you guys here, me and Abthree excepted, don't relish the tropical climate like we do......kkkkkkk

Short of the late ever so jovial  Narciso Vernizi,  there has not been any serious TV wheatherman under our parages. 

All there is on TV is some eye candy gal who has no clue about wheather patterns. Or for that matter, a lack of commitment for Broadcasting companies to invest in serious wheather coverage. They put up the glamed up bimbo, and call it a day.

I miss the old John Ghiorse from WJAR with his thick smooth and sedated voice.

    52?? You must be reading it from your car which isn't  accurate n has been sitting in the sun. It's  only 30 there today. It's 38c here in Fernandopolis.
   

    -@Cserebogar

Fernandopolis... You are cooking there.  It's odd, being by the Rio Grande watershed.

    It's the "feels like" or sensacao termica.......Rio is a giant slab of concrete that holds the heat.
Seems like many of you guys here, me and Abthree excepted, don't relish the tropical climate like we do......kkkkkkk
   

    -@Gasparzinho 777

Giant concrete slab. That is fitting. 

And Barra da Tijuca used to be all florest. Now, it is a Gated Community after a Gated Community

    I'm from Wisconsin where we were used to the "polar vortex" out of Canada and August was most always miserably hot and humid. No second guessing the climactic changes we now see and are going to change all of our lives. I wouldn't want to live in a large hot city where the only escape from the heat is with AC just as I wouldn't want to live in Wisconsin without central heating. It just keeps getting hotter Madison's "Days of Ice Cover" on Lake Mendota (since 1862) can attest: https://climatology.nelson.wisc.edu/fir … e-mendota/
A good place to go for those interested in Brazilian meteorology is https://portal.inmet.gov.br/. You can find the hottest/coldest, wettest/driest, nation-wide or specific to your location.  I haven't found a way to get a good historical string of temp data going back in time yet but I'm still poking around there.

I watch my own a bit and you can see by this last month's data that I do OK by temperature: http://berigan.com/images/20231016-2023 … midity.jpg

I only wish we had a bit more rain. Our principle reservoir (built in 1957) is fed from what has been called the driest part of Brazil - the caatinga. It is augmented (our water supply) by the water from the Rio São Francisco which currently is in good condition: https://www.gov.br/ana/pt-br/sala-de-si … acao-atual

Stay cool!
   

    -@mberigan

Lot's of underground water tables out there, so I've been told.

    Short of the late ever so jovial  Narciso Vernizi,  there has not been any serious TV wheatherman under our parages.  All there is on TV is some eye candy gal who has no clue about wheather patterns. Or for that matter, a lack of commitment for Broadcasting companies to invest in serious wheather coverage. They put up the glamed up bimbo, and call it a day.I miss the old John Ghiorse from WJAR with his thick smooth and sedated voice.         -@sprealestatebroker

Rosana Jatoba from Globo about 10 years ago.......que gostosa !!!

@Gasparzinho 777 @abthree seems to be a bit north of me. Our temperature is 34 degrees 365 days a year in Parazinho, Ceara, a very small village next to Granja. The big question is the Rainy season, which I believe goes from December to March. We have 0 precipitation the rest of the time, but rain EVERY day during Rainy season.

Roddie in Retirement

    52?? You must be reading it from your car which isn't  accurate n has been sitting in the sun. It's  only 30 there today. It's 38c here in Fernandopolis.
   

    -@Cserebogar

It was never, ever 52 degrees c in actual temperature

59.3 sensacao termica today in Rio de Janeiro........a record apparently.

38°C in Americana today. Not easy to adapt to these temperatures, after many years living in the UK got used to the cold. We bought a portable aircon for the bedroom, which at least helps us sleep better at night, the dog loves it too!

11/17/23 I've been assuming that everyone realizes this and ask for pardon in advance from those who do, but when the temps are this high in so many parts of the country, I'll go ahead and say it:  if you're going out and about your daily life in this kind of weather, especially if you live north of São Paulo (i.e., the Tropic of Capricorn, which runs through the city), you should be wearing a broadbrimmed hat when you're out in the sun.  It's a lot more effective than a baseball cap, and I don't even bother to talk about going hatless.  The advice goes for both men and women.  It doesn't matter how you look, and you can probably get one at the Mercado Municipal for around R$20.  Escaping sunstroke is worth that much.

SPF60 sunscreen too............

@abthree I also want to add that yesterday i lost the surge protector attached to my very expensive computer equipment because of the heat. I am considering air-conditioning my glass-enclosed You Tube studio, because this could get expensive with the heat. I just remembered that all the time I went into doctors, dentist, government offices that use computers it was air-conditioned.

Roddie in Retirement

Regarding heat issues - I have experience with central and mini-split A/Cs and those use a lot of power.  I was told that evaporative coolers use less energy... How is your experience with those?  Do they work well in Brazil?

@Pablo888

It is fairly rare to see central air in Brazil, though it obviously exists in large buildings, shopping centres, etc, but very uncommon in homes. Much more common are the ugly box ACs or, more and more these days, split ACs.

We enjoy a constant sea breeze all year round, affording, effecticvely, some free AC especially if your home is right on the beach. However this is only really realistic during the day time, as we all close our doors and windows at night.

That said, a 9000btu split unit should only cost around US$1 a night to run if not set stupidly low, so not too expensive... unless you leave your windows or doors open!

@Pablo888 Thank Goodness for Amazon.Com, it is my retail google. I did not know what EVAPORATE COOLERS were until I looked it up. I had a really effective one in R.I. I gave it to my cousin since I couldn't bring it with me.  i got it from Home Depot. It is a great solution, now where do I find them?

Roddie in Retirement

Our electric bill in Copacabana with a 12,000 btu AC system is about R$300 a month in summer.......that also includes lights, TV, and fridge BTW.

We run it only at night from 10PM-6 AM.......in the off season we don't use it.

    Our electric bill in Copacabana with a 12,000 btu AC system is about R$300 a month in summer.
    -@Gasparzinho 777

12000 btu AC is a pretty big system and I am sure that the cooling is worth the amount of energy spent. 

The evaporative cooling system uses a lot less energy because it cools by causing the moisture in the ambient air to evaporate rather than use a refrigerant that needs pumping and compression to extract heat.  This machine is also known as a "swamp cooler".  The other advantage of the evaporative cooler is that it does not dump massive amount of heat outside - just moves the damp hot air from inside to outside.

Just wondering if anyone has successfully used an evaporative cooling machine in the Rio concrete jungle...

    11/17/23 ... if you're going out and about .......... you should be wearing a broadbrimmed hat when you're out in the sun.  It's a lot more effective than a baseball cap, and I don't even bother to talk about going hatless.  The advice goes for both men and women.  It doesn't matter how you look, and you can probably get one at the Mercado Municipal for around R$20.  Escaping sunstroke is worth that much. 

    -@abthree

I'll second that advice!!

I'm fortunate to live at altitude (550 meters) in a transition area from the "Agreste" (Mata Atlantica) to the Cariri (caatinga). I also live at the upwind side of the city and next to a green area. We don't have or need air conditioning even when it is hot because, with shade, the breeze keeps us cool. Sure, there are "dog days" (mormaço) that bring hope of a subsequent cloud burst, but we always get through them.

Additionally, older homes here (northeastern interior) are not fully closed. Above every window and doorway is a place that allows air to pass. Modern builds are all sealed up but any place more than 15 years old has a lot or permeability - something that would require a lot of upgrading (I actually find closed spaces a "downgrade") to hold cold air in. There's also no insulation and so, if one has a wall facing the west, cooling that space is going to require a lot of energy (very hot walls).

I also have a small house in the back country. It is pure caatinga (a Tupi word meaning "white forest" or "white vegetation") and the biome is formed of a stunted forest where long droughts under the harshest UV  conditions (check out radiation maps for Brazil) are the rule - always have been. The people that live there generally hole-up from about 11 a.m. to about 16:30, just in time to watch the sun head for the horizon (waxing poetic I love the words the Brazilians use: fusco-lusco, crepúsculo (vespertino), o anoitecer, o fim da tarde, por do sol, entardecer). Wide brim hats or caps with a solar "drape," long sleeves, basically full body coverage is require to face the harsh rigors of the sun - or better yet just stay under a roof and keep cool[er] in a hammock. Home construction here calls for a lot of open spaces in windows and doors, even between the tops of the walls and the roof. It can be a bit disconcerting for those not accustomed to it but a home in this biome is pretty much open to outside to let any and every breeze come through - and there are strong breezes.

We had a bit of a lesson from our then-new neighbors as we were fixing up our home in the backlands. My wife wanted to put in a ceiling (everything is open up to the ceramic tiled roof) to reduce dust infiltration and the neighbors were horrified and told us that if you close off spaces you only intensify the heat. The desired condition is openness.

It is hard to convince people accustomed to "modernity" (the norms of big city living) that one best lives with nature by following natural principles. I was just reading about passive cooling systems in an article titled "The Role of Biomimicry in Architectural Innovation" and it would seem that we are only now "rediscovering" ways to reduce energy consumption that our predecessors already figured out.

The climate is changing and we all need to adapt. I lived in Wisconsin and I know that a central heating system for surviving the cold is pretty much essential. Unfortunately, if we all install AC to combat the heat I can only foresee rolling power failures and/or massive investments in power production of all types. (Sidenote: Portugal just completed 6 days on 100% renewable power).

For now, wide brimmed hats an long sleeves or a shady roof and a hammock from 11:00-16:30!!! ..... and feeling very fortunate that I don't live in one of those areas suffering intense heat.

mberigan

On the national news (USA) they are saying that one of TAYLOR SWIFTS fans died of heatstroke over the weekend at her concert in RIO!

Roddie in Retirement

    On the national news (USA) they are saying that one of TAYLOR SWIFTS fans died of heatstroke over the weekend at her concert in RIO!
Roddie in Retirement-@roddiesho

And Taylor said (probably while sitting in an AC suite with her new BF) that she was horrified.

Apparently the concert organizer, et al, are in for an expensive time if her family gets a good lawyer. Outside beverages, like bottled water, were not allowed into Engenhao.......you had to pay concert prices to get a drink from some far away concession stand, so, imagine the scenario.........

@sprealestatebroker finally poured rain yesterday...cooled everything off. Supposed to be copler with tain everyday  for a 20 min downfall. 30 here now and thats comfortable  for me.

    11/17/23 ... if you're going out and about your daily life in this kind of weather, especially if you live north of São Paulo (i.e., the Tropic of Capricorn, which runs through the city), you should be wearing a broadbrimmed hat when you're out in the sun.  It's a lot more effective than a baseball cap, and I don't even bother to talk about going hatless. 
   
    -@abthree

After a career in nuclear medicine, mostly in cancer, and a lifetime in science, I'll add that in many ways, baseball caps can be worse than no hat at all as they tend to expose ears, necks, and noses more than wearing no hat at all.

I wear a hot weather, quick drying broad brim

@Pablo888 I am not a Swiftee, but I did see video of her struggling on stage in the heat. Of course they didn`t show her trailer, so who knows.

Roddie in Retirement

11/20/23 After a career in nuclear medicine, mostly in cancer, and a lifetime in science, I'll add that in many ways, baseball caps can be worse than no hat at all as they tend to expose ears, necks, and noses more than wearing no hat at all. I wear a hot weather, quick drying broad brim        -@rraypo

Excellent point!  And remember, what a broad brim hat gives you in addition to direct protection from the sun is some shade for your head.  With ambient temps this high, even a couple of degrees can make a difference.

Latest swifty news:  https://www.billboard.com/music/pop/tay … 235510723/

It's nice that Taylor wants to do something special but it's kinda late.

What do people in Brazil think about this?  Is this an olive branch or a slap on the face?