On June 25, 1918, meteorologist José Nunes Belford Mattos recorded a historic fact: snow was falling in São Paulo. The statement, despite being so old, still causes curiosity among the population and sparks debate among meteorology professionals to this day. After all, the cold around here can be pretty intense but not to the point of snow. Is it possible that this phenomenon occurred in São Paulo? Find out more about this historic event below:
After all, has there been snow in São Paulo or not? capital?
Belford Mattos was one of the pioneers in meteorology in Brazil, and was responsible for a weather station on Avenida Paulista – which, at that time, was still surrounded by the Atlantic Forest. On June 25, 1918, 106 years ago, he supposedly recorded that snow had fallen in the capital.
In fact, the meteorologist recorded the temperature of -3ºC in his notebook, along with the phenomenon of “frost”. He also pointed out that there were no clouds in the sky that day. This fact is crucial to unraveling the mystery, because low temperatures are not enough to cause snow.
In an interview with G1 in this article, Carlos Augusto Morales Rodriguez (IAG/USP), professor of meteorology, explains what conditions would be necessary for us to see snow in São Paulo. Firstly, temperatures in the sky and on the surface must be below 0ºC. In addition, there must be rain clouds, whose water vapor crystallizes and falls to the ground in the form of snow.
The professor says that it is extremely rare for both phenomena to occur at the same time in São Paulo, partly because we are in the tropics and very close to the sea. That’s why there’s unlikely to be snow here.
In other words, what happened on June 25, 1918 was not snow, but a severe frost. Which leads us to the conclusion that, despite the myth, there are no records of snow in the city of São Paulo.
Snow has been recorded inland
Even if it doesn’t snow in the capital, some places in the interior of the state have seen snow in the past. One of them is Campos do Jordão the famous ‘Brazilian Switzerland’, with official records of the phenomenon dating back to 1920. In addition, the city of Cunha, 3 hours from the capital, also has records of snow in 1946.