Weather Forecasting in Brazil: A Concise Historical Review

The main objective of this article is to describe the factors and issues responsible for the evolution of the weather forecast in Brazil. This is done based on a historical review of the formation and evolution of the national meteorological services in the last 170 years and on the development of weather forecasting methods. Changes in the routines of weather forecasting services in two centenary Brazilian institutions, the National Institute of Meteorology and the Brazilian Navy, since the creation of the first subjective forecasts to the present day, are highlighted. Information about the 14 undergraduate courses in Meteorology in Brazil is given, which support the technological development of this science, through scientific research and training of human resources. The introduction of meteorological radar in the 1970s, and its current networks, as well as the elaboration of the first numerical weather predictions (NWP) by the Center for Weather Forecasting and Climate Studies (Centro de Previsao do Tempo e Estudos Climaticos do Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas Espaciais – CPTEC/INPE), in 1995, are also described. To complement, a survey is presented, showing the current working conditions of weather forecasters. The survey results reveal that 45% of the 102 meteorologists interviewed use the Czech Republic Windy application to prepare their weather forecasts operationally and almost 60% use the Wyoming University website to obtain data from radiosondes launched in Brazil. It is important to highlight that, since the introduction of NWP by CPTEC/INPE, at the end of the 1990s, there has been a great advance in the field of weather forecasting. Moreover, observational networks have undergone a great expansion, with a significant increase in the number of weather stations in recent decades. Despite all the progress achieved, there is still a need for the integration of observational networks and databases of various institutions. Finally, the development of applications that meet the demand of young meteorologists in the operational centers is advisable.