According to the warnings, there is the possibility of winds of up to 100 km/hour, with potential risks of hail, felling of trees, flooding, damage to crops and electricity cuts.
The National Institute of Meteorology (Inmet) released this Friday, 2nd, two orange warnings of “storm danger” and “intense rain” for the first weekend of the year, valid for a large part of the States of São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro, the Federal District, as well as regions of Minas Gerais, Mato Grosso and Goiás. According to Inmet, a cold front enters the country along the coast of São Paulo.
According to the warnings, there is the possibility of winds of up to 100 km/hour, with potential risks of hail, felling of trees, flooding, damage to crops and electricity cuts. The orange alert is the penultimate on Inmet’s severity scale, behind only red.
The storm danger warning is valid for large regions of São Paulo, such as the metropolitan area, the south coast, Vale do Paraíba Paulista, São José do Rio Preto and Ribeirão Preto.
The alert applies to practically the entire State of Rio, with emphasis on the metropolitan region and Baixada Fluminense. The same happens in the state of Minas Gerais. The Federal District and other regions of Goiás and Mato Grosso are also under orange alert.
A yellow alert is in effect for practically the rest of the country – also issued this Friday – which indicates “potential danger of intense rain”. The yellow alert indicates the possibility of winds of up to 60 km/h, with a low risk of falling tree branches, flooding, electrical discharges and power cuts.
Inmet recommends that in the event of gusts of wind, the population does not take shelter under trees as there is a risk of falling branches and electrical discharges, nor do they park vehicles near transmission towers and advertising signs. Inmet also recommends turning off electrical appliances and the general energy supply.
According to Inmet. “the year 2026 begins under the influence of an atmospheric pattern favorable to the formation of the South Atlantic Convergence Zone (ZCAS). This scenario could result in localized storms, with heavy rain in a short period of time, intense gusts of wind and the possibility of hail falling over the entire Southeast region, Goiás, Federal District and western Bahia, areas that also record high temperatures.”
Also according to Inmet, the expectation is for an extensive band of persistent rain to remain between Saturday, 3rd, and at least next Friday, 9th, with accumulations that could exceed 250 mm throughout the system’s period of operation.
*Estadão Content
