Best Time To Travel To: Brazil
Brazil is a large country in South America. In terms of area, it takes up almost half of South America and extends from 5 ° north to 34 ° south. As one of the few countries in South America Brazil has no part of the Andes. But there are also ridges.
Basically, Brazil has a tropical climate. The largest land areas are the Amazon basin and the Brazilian plateau.
Due to the geographical conditions, Brazil is often divided into four typical climatic regions: the Amazon basin, the Brazilian plateau, the coastal regions and the regions in the south.
The Amazon basin
The Amazon basin covers the entire north of Brazil and large parts of central Brazil. In the Amazon basin there is primarily an equatorial climate. The conditions are subject to rather minor fluctuations all year round.
The Amazon basin is not only the largest region in the country, but the largest contiguous area with an equatorial climate at all. The climate is very typical - it actually rains all year round and there is actually no pronounced dry season.
The temperatures are high all year round and are between 27 ° to 32 °C. Except for short cold phases in the south, there is no really cold weather. These cooler phases are possible between May and September and are caused by cold Antarctic winds.
Even if it rarely heats up extremely, the climate in the Amazon basin is considered to be relatively uncomfortable due to the high humidity. Typical for this region is the climate table of Manaus. The phase from June to September in Manaus is even relatively dry.
The Brazilian Plateau
The Brazilian Plateau rises to the south and east of the Amazon Basin. The average altitude is about 900 meters. The plateau slopes westward and northward toward the Amazon River. On average, it reaches its highest altitude on the Atlantic coast.
This region is hardly smaller than the Amazon basin. However, because of the more southern location and especially because of the altitude, the climate is somewhat different. Here one can perceive a rainy season and a dry season. Between October and April one can perceive a rainy season here, the other months are comparatively dry. An exception is perhaps the area around the Sao Francisco, where it rains a little more.
In the northeast there are even phases of pronounced dryness, in which practically no rain falls. Typical for this region would be e.g. the climate table of Iguatu.
For more humid parts of the plateau, e.g. the region around Brasilia, the climate table of Goiania would be relatively typical.
Normally, average temperatures on the plateau are fairly stable and consistent. During the dry season, the differences become somewhat more pronounced. During the day it becomes very warm (with up to 10 hours of sunshine), at night it cools down a bit more. During the rainy season, however, it remains relatively warm at night, which makes the humidity very uncomfortable.
The coastal areas
The coastal areas of Brazil to the Atlantic Ocean are actually relatively narrow. They run roughly from Recife in the north to Porto Alegre in the south. Not far behind the coasts runs the Brazilian plateau. An exception is the mouth of the Amazon River in the north with a more extensive lowland plain.
The coastal areas have a fairly hot tropical climate. However, there are some shifts in the north-south direction. In the north at the mouth of the Amazon, it is rainy year-round, with the main rainy season between December and May. Around Bahia, however, the wettest months are between May and August, and the rest of the year is quite dry there. Typical here would be the climate table of Recife, for example.
Further south, around Sao Paulo and Rio De Janeiro, the wettest periods are between November and April, although the other months are rarely completely dry. In recent years, especially in the southeast, there have been frequent heavy storms, especially from December to April. Around Sao Paulo, Rio De Janeiro and Minas Gerais, December and January have proven to be almost constantly rainy.
The temperatures along the coast are actually always pleasantly warm, but never extremely high. Even at higher temperatures, the climate seems more than pleasant due to the sea breezes. The temperatures actually very rarely drop far. Only in the direction of the mountain ranges it can get cooler again and again, behind Santos, for example, there can be frosty days.
The South
The climate in the south is actually pleasantly warm everywhere, but never very hot. In winter you have to reckon with cold weather here, frost is theoretically possible. In particular, the phase from December to February in the south, with a focus on the south-west and south-east, often proved to be extremely rainy. Sao Paulo, Rio De Janeiro or especially Minas Gerais have always been affected recently. In summer, however, the temperatures are similar to those of the other coastal regions, although it tends to be a little sunnier in the south.
It rains all year round along the southern coast, with more rains during the cold months. When you come inland, it gets higher and therefore colder. Frost is possible in the cold season, but snow rarely falls. Inland it is most humid in summer - unlike the coast.
When is the best time to go to Brazil
The best time to travel to Brazil is generally considered the period April to October. For the popular region around Rio De Janeiro this is partly okay, but April has been been proven very rainy from time to time. The time is also not bad for parts of the plateau around Iguatu or Goias and the region around Manaus. For the northeast with Bahia and Recife the period October to February would be a better choice. But: in that period you have to reckon with abundant rainfalls, which are often accompanied by flood somtimes.
