Jun 21, 2010
The Dry Season Has Begun in Central Brazil
Author: Michael Cordonnier/Soybean & Corn Advisor, Inc.
This report is being sent from Rondonopolis, in southeastern Mato Grosso. Here in central Brazil it is now the dry season. The last significant rain in Rondonopolis was about a month ago and the total rainfall since early April has been about 1.5 inches. Generally during the months of June, July, and August the only rains that fall in central Brazil are the light and drizzly type of rains that accompany strong cold fronts that manage to make it this close to the equator. The next significant rain is not expected until later in August or early in September. The first rain at the end of the dry season is called the "mango rain" because it helps the development of the mangoes which are already developing by then. The leaves are starting to fall and by the end of the dry season, some of the native cerrado trees will be devoid of leaves.
Without any rain, the sky is cloud free and bright blue. Temperatures early in the morning are in the low 70's and they warm up quickly to the 80's or 90's by later in the afternoon. The relative humidity is quite low in the range of 30-40% and the air is very dry. Yesterday was the shortest day of the year here in the Southern Hemisphere and the sun set at about 5:15 pm.
In far southern Brazil, as well as Argentina and Uruguay, they actually have a winter season. In fact, this past weekend saw freezing temperatures in Rio Grande do Sul in southern Brazil. The cold weather generally doesn't last a long time. The cold weather is usually followed quickly by moderate warmups.
As the calendar moves into August and September the sun becomes more directly overhead (its directly above the equator on September 22 and Rondonopolis is about 14 degrees south of the equator) and since there are no clouds or rain to mix down the cooler air, the temperatures really start to climb. The hottest time of the year in central Brazil is late August and early September when the temperatures can easily surpass 100 degrees on a daily basis. By that time of the year, there hasn't been any rain for 3-4 months so everything is parched and there is a large amount of dust and smoke in the air. Once the rains resume, the air clears and the temperatures fall back into the 90s.
As far as agriculture is concerned, farmers in the area are harvesting their safrinha corn and their cotton. The yields of both crops are reported as being disappointing due to the early onset of the dry season. During the 2008-09 growing season, the rains started late (October) and they ended late (June). During the 2009-10 growing season, they started early (September) and they ended early (April).
Brazil has the largest cattle heard in the world and there is about four times more pasture acreage in Brazil than row crop acreage and the pastures turn brown of course during the dry season. The more progressive ranchers provide supplemental feed during the dry season so that the cattle don't loose weight, but most of the cattle have to persist on drying grass and as a result, they loose weight during the dry season. Later in the dry season, the farmers like to burn off the dry grass so there are new green shoots for the cattle. This burning of the pastures attributes significantly to the amount of smoke in the air. Another source of smoke is the burning off of the dry sugarcane leaves before harvesting. There is also a lot of dust in the air by the end of the dry season.