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Regional-scale meteorological characteristics of the Vento Norte phenomenon observed in Southern Brazil

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Abstract

The sudden increase in air temperature associated with strong gusty winds of northerly direction is a phenomenon occasionally observed during the cold season in the central region of Rio Grande do Sul (RS) state, located in extreme southern Brazil. This geophysical flow, which is known as Vento Norte (VNOR; Portuguese for “North Wind”), promotes temperature variations that depart significantly from the local cold-season climatology. In this study, eleven years of surface meteorological observations collected at seven weather stations distributed over central RS are employed to investigate the regional extension of the effects of the VNOR windstorm. The analysis revealed that the sharp increase in temperature and in wind magnitude caused by VNOR is observed over a rather wide region of central RS. However, it is in the vicinities of the city of Santa Maria, located just south of an abrupt drop in terrain elevation, that the most intense VNOR effects are observed suggesting a downslope enhancement of the windstorm. A detailed investigation of the meteorological data also showed that the duration of the VNOR windstorm is well correlated with the magnitude of the maximum wind gusts, with the most intense VNOR events also lasting longer. VNOR events occur more frequently in the period between the morning (0700 LST) and early afternoon (1400 LST). The onset of the windstorm is detected predominantly during overnight and morning hours, with 70% of VNOR cases initiating between 0000 and 1000 LST. Regarding the VNOR demise, 66% of the windstorms dissipate between early afternoon and early evening hours (1200–1900 LST). Results from this study are applicable in the areas of atmospheric diffusion and local weather forecasting.

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Notes

  1. For this study, the winter months were considered (1M, 2M e 3M).

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Acknowledgements

This work was carried the Coordination for the Improvement of Higher Education Personnel—Brazil (CAPES)—Financing Code 001.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Departamento de Física, Universidade Federal de Santa Maria, Santa Maria, RS, Brazil

    Cinara Ewerling da Rosa, Michel Stefanello, Débora Regina Roberti, Ernani de Lima Nascimento & Gervásio Annes Degrazia

  2. Instituto Federal Farroupilha, São Vicente do Sul, RS, Brazil

    Cinara Ewerling da Rosa

  3. Research Center on Remote Sensing and Meteorology, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul, Porto Alegre, RS, Brasil

    Douglas Stefanello Facco

  4. Instituto Federal Farroupilha, Alegrete, RS, Brazil

    Fábio Diniz Rossi

Authors
  1. Cinara Ewerling da Rosa
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  2. Michel Stefanello
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  3. Douglas Stefanello Facco
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  4. Débora Regina Roberti
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  5. Fábio Diniz Rossi
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  6. Ernani de Lima Nascimento
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  7. Gervásio Annes Degrazia
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Correspondence to Cinara Ewerling da Rosa.

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da Rosa, C.E., Stefanello, M., Facco, D.S. et al. Regional-scale meteorological characteristics of the Vento Norte phenomenon observed in Southern Brazil. Environ Fluid Mech 22, 819–837 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10652-022-09855-4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10652-022-09855-4

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