Frost forecast continues for the South and Southeast regions in the coming days

The trend of intense cold in several regions of the country maintains the forecast of frost in some states in the early hours of this Friday (30/07). The condition for widespread frosts is predicted for much of the center-south of the country, and for intense frosts in the South Region, south of Mato Grosso do Sul, areas of São Paulo and south of Minas Gerais.  

On Saturday (31/07), frost may still occur on the border between São Paulo, Minas Gerais and Rio de Janeiro - Itatiaia region, in addition to the entire South and Southeast region of São Paulo.

The information comes from the National Meteorology System, which brings together data from the National Institute of Meteorology (Inmet), the National Institute for Space Research (Inpe) and the Management and Operational Center for the Amazon Protection System (Censipam). 

Teams from the National Supply Company (Conab) are in the field in the states most affected by last week's frost, on rural properties where there is a likely change in production expectations for coffee, sugar cane and grain crops, especially corn and wheat. Representatives from the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Supply (Mapa) are meeting with leaders of cooperatives and banks to raise the demands of affected producers. 

The director of the Mapa Marketing and Supply Department, Silvio Farnese, says that coffee was the crop most affected by the frost in recent weeks, especially in Minas Gerais, which is the largest producing state. However, he explains that the current coffee harvest (2021) has already been harvested and will be sufficient to meet domestic consumption demand and contracts on the foreign market.

“We are waiting for a precise survey of what happened to coffee, the level of commitment, depending on the intensity of the frost that hit the crops. The technicians’ recommendation now is that producers who have already been affected do nothing until they know the situation of each plant,” he says. Minister Tereza Cristina was in Alfenas (MG) to meet with local coffee producers. 

Regarding corn, Farnese says that there is also no scenario of a lack of product. He explains that the current harvest suffered from the drought, due to late planting, and recalls that the government has already suspended the import tax rate applied to corn imports until December.

Real Time

Conab began publishing extra work on its website to monitor and specifically analyze climate impacts in locations affected by extreme cold. The initial results of the work can now be accessed on link available on the Conab website, in the document entitled Frost Monitoring.  

The Company also monitors the impacts of frost on vegetable and fruit producers. The results are in the Weekly Monitoring Report on the Sale of the main products in Supply Centers, published weekly. 

The National Institute of Meteorology (Inmet) developed the Monitoring Platform for possible Frosts in Brazil, which presents a map of possible frost occurrences based on data recorded by Automatic Meteorological Stations.

Frost 

Frost is the formation of thin layers of ice on surfaces exposed to the open air, and can cause damage to various types of crops. Temperatures at 0ºC are enough to form them. 

From an agronomic point of view, frost is characterized by a phenomenon of intense cold, with or without deposition of ice on plants, but which results in the freezing of the intracellular contents of vegetables. Therefore, a few days after frost, the death of plants or some of their parts can be seen.

Cold

The SNM predicts consecutive days with negative minimum temperatures in the highest altitude areas of the South Region (between -6°C and -8°C, occasionally reaching up to -10°C) and maximum temperatures below 12°C between the 30th and 31/07 in several cities in the interior of the South Region.

For the Southeast, forecast of minimum temperatures between -2°C and -4°C in Serra da Mantiqueira (border between SP and MG, including the Itatiaia region in the state of Rio de Janeiro); Negative temperatures are also forecast for the south of Mato Grosso do Sul and part of the interior of São Paulo. In relation to maximum temperatures, the capitals where thermometers were below 18°C ​​on 30/07 will be São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro.