Events of Heavy Rainfall and Strong Winds in Sao Paulo State, Brazil

The relationships of strong winds and heavy rainfall in Sao Paulo State, Brazil, was investigated. Wind data from Project Elektro/Climatico collected by thirteen Platforms of Data Collection were used. The results showed that in the west sector the occurrence of strong winds was higher in the center and south areas and decreased northwards. In the central sector the occurrence of strong wind episodes was higher southwards while in the litoral it was lower due to probably the lack of wind data collected during the austral summer. In Teodoro Sampaio, Andradina, Santa Rita d'Oeste, Votuporanga (west), Rio Claro, Tatui (central) and Ubatuba (litoral) 15, 18, 28, 12, 11, 7 and 3 extreme events occurred, respectively (maximum wind higher than 20 ms-1 together with rainfall higher than 25 mm day-1). A case study of an episode of extreme event which occurred in Andradina on 15 October 2009 was examined. Heavy rainfall accompanied with high winds and strong divergence at 200 hPa and ascending motion were observed in the region due to intense convection along a cold front that moved fast over Sao Paulo State.

The identification of regions with strong winds and their relation with heavy precipitation must drive electrical energy generation and distribution what is important nowadays. So, the main importance of this research is its applicability to the energy sector.