Tropical storm Akará: what could be the impact of this “very rare” phenomenon in southern Brazil

The tropical storm Akara It hit the southern coast of Brazil Sunday night into early Monday morning. It was a “very rare” episode, which rarely occurs in the 21st century, the local meteorological agency highlighted. Met Sul.

In the latest update on the storm, MetSul Meteorology shared a satellite image showing “the spiraling clouds of the rare tropical storm over the Atlantic Ocean, off the coast, east of Rio Grande do Sul.”

Even if according to computer projections the storm would always remain in the open sea and without making landfall, “The strong wind field of a cyclone can extend for hundreds of kilometers,” MetSul said, adding: “The system is expected to track south and not landward over the continent.”

The storm’s impact would only be seen through high waves, isolated rain showers and occasionally localized thunderstorms.

MetSul described Akará as “one of the rare events that occurred on the Brazilian coast in this century”.

The last time a cyclone was named off the coast of Brazil was two years ago with Yakecan, which was classified as a subtropical storm and caused the death of one person in Uruguay and another in Porto Alegre, where more people remained of a million people. power supply.

Why was Akará produced?

Akará was produced by strengthening of a low pressure center which had previously gone through phases of subtropical depression and tropical depression.

According to NOAA satellite analysis, the storm intensified from 2.0 to 2.5 Tropical Cyclone Dvorak, causing the system to transition from a subtropical depression to a tropical storm (a figure of 2.5 corresponds to sustained winds of 65 km/h).

The storm was named according to the official list of anomalous cyclones provided by the Brazilian Navy. In this sense, Akará is a type of fish in the Tupi language.

MetSul points out that the storm is a rarity, as until then there had only been four on the coast of Brazil in the 21st century: Catarina (2004), Anita (2010), Iba (2021) and 01Q (2021).

The differences between hurricane, cyclone and typhoon

Both hurricanes, cyclones and typhoons, even if few believe it, are the same phenomenon: a storm system. However, their name changes depending on the place where they are produced.

If one of these storms occurs in the North Atlantic, Caribbean, and Northeast Pacific, it is called a “hurricane.” And the name was given to him by the Caribbean god of evil, Hurrican. And it was the ritual name of one of the creators of the world and humanity, as well as being the god of fire, wind and storms).

In the Pacific Northwest, however, these storms are called “typhoons”, like the one that just hit the Philippines. In Greek mythology, Typhon is a terrifying primitive deity linked to the hurricanes that the Olympian gods faced.

If they occur in the southeastern Indian Ocean or southwest Pacific, they are called “severe tropical cyclones.” In the northern part of the Indian Ocean they are called “severe cyclonic storms”, while in the southwestern part of the same ocean they are simply called “tropical cyclones”.

As National Geographic also reflects, to qualify for these three, a storm’s winds must reach a speed of at least 119 kilometers per hour.