Storm chasers arrive in South America for the start of its severe weather season

[SaWxRodrigo]

The first foreign storm chaser to confirm his presence in South America at the start of spring in the Southern Hemisphere, the time of year when storms and tornadoes typically peak in South America's "Dixie Alley."



To provide some context, southeastern South America (SESA) has two "hot spots" of severe and tornado activity: one informally known as "SA/South American Dixie" (southern Brazil, southeastern Paraguay, and the Argentine Panhandle), and another also informally known as "SA/South American Tornado Alley" (central-eastern Argentina and Uruguay).

In general, the first one is at its peak (and is now at its peak, as you may have already heard ) between winter and spring (Jun–Oct), while the second one is at its peak between spring and summer (Sep–Jan).

PS: El Niño events contribute to a significant increase in these peaks, not to mention Super El Niño events...

 

[akt1985]

Very cool. I assume tornadoes in South America typically move a different direction than North American tornadoes due to being in the Southern Hemisphere? Something storm chasers in Brazil might want to consider if they are coming from the United States.

 

[SaWxRodrigo]

Very cool. I assume tornadoes in South America typically move a different direction than North American tornadoes due to being in the Southern Hemisphere? Something storm chasers in Brazil might want to consider if they are coming from the United States?

Exactly, if you’re tracking storms here, you should focus on the left-moving supercells, approach them from the north-northeast flank.





And to forecast severe weather here in the southern hemisphere, you should look at soundings that bases all its convective parameters on the Bunkers storm motion for LM supercells, just as the website previsãomasters.com already does, a site that uses the same model Prevots itself uses for its forecasts.



(PS: The sounding above is from the profile prior to the multivortex tornado in Pedro Osorio and Herval, RS, Brazil, on 08/06/26).

But the movement and structure of severe t-storms in the Southern Hemisphere aren’t the only things to keep in mind when chasing storms in the South American corridor. Here’s a thread by Lucas Moura (one of the few active storm chasers in Brazil, who will be guiding foreign storm chasers who want to visit the region) that does a great job of summarizing everything else you need to consider: