oximately
to a dry and wet season. The "dry" season, however, is a season of
moderate rainfall, except on the north-east coast where arid
conditions prevail. Another exception is that of the Pernambuco coast,
where the rainy season comes between March and August, with the
heaviest rainfall from May to July, which is the time of the southern
winter. Going southward there is also a gradual decrease in the mean
annual temperature, the difference between Rio de Janeiro and the
Amazon being about 5 deg. The north-east coast, which is sandy and
barren, shows an average mean annual temperature (at Fortaleza) of
nearly 80 deg. F., which is slightly higher than those of Maranhao and
Para. At Pernambuco the mean summer temperature is 79.5 deg. and that
of winter 76.8 deg., which are about 3 deg. lower than the mean
temperature of Bahia in summer, and 5 deg. higher than the Bahia mean
in winter. South of Bahia there is a gradual increase in the rainfall,
that of Rio de Janeiro exceeding 43 in. per annum. At Santos the
rainfall is exceptionally heavy and the mean temperature high, but
below that point the climatic conditions are considerably modified,
the range in temperature being greater, the mean annual temperature
lower, and the rainfall more evenly distributed throughout the year.
The winds are more variable, and the seasons are more sharply defined.
In Rio Grande do Sul the range in temperature is from 26 deg. to 80
deg., the climate being similar to that of Uruguay. At Pelotas, a
sea-level port on Lagoa dos Patos, the mean annual temperature is
about 63 deg. and the annual rainfall about 42 in. Extreme variations
in temperature are often produced by cold south-west storms from the
Argentine pampas, which sweep across southern Brazil as far north as
Cape Frio, the fall in temperature sometimes being 22 deg. to 27 deg.
These storms usually last from two to three days and cause much
discomfort. Winter rains are more frequent in southern Brazil, and
violent storms prevail in August and September. At Blumenau, on the
Santa Catharina coast, the annual rainfall is 53 in.

The climatic conditions of the Brazilian plateau are widely different
from those of the coast in many respects. There is less uniformity in
temperature, and the elevated _chapadas_ are generally hotter during
the day and cooler at night than are localities of the same latitude
on the coast. Th