A cold front will cast a few isolated showers in the direction of Brazil's main coffee growing region of southern Minas Gerais before rolling out to sea and giving way to sunny, warm weather, private forecaster Somar said on Tuesday.
No polar air mass is associated with the front, leaving farm temperatures only slightly cooler before the effects of the system dissipate and weather turns clear and warmer, Somar said in a daily weather bulletin.
In an extended 10-day forecast, Somar said, "Between July 15 and 20, a hot, dry air mass will cover the productive belt with higher temperatures for this time of year."
The cold front that arrived in southern Brazil on Sunday dropped 7 millimeters (0.28 inches) by Monday on farms in Parana, the southernmost coffee state. It also caused some isolated showers in the Cerrado and southern Minas Gerais regions. South Minas could see more showers on Tuesday.
Minas Gerais accounts for about 50 percent of Brazil's coffee output. Most of the coffee belt is need of the rainfall to lighten the effects of the dry spell over the past several months.
Brazil is in the middle of its coffee harvest but the light rains are unlikely to interrupt field operations.
Over 43 percent of Brazil's coffee crop was picked by July 5, private analysts Safras e Mercado said on Monday, adding that 77 percent of robustas and 32 percent of arabicas were harvested.
June and July are the months of highest risk of coffee frost in Brazil. But the last serious freeze was in 1994 and there have been only three major crop damaging frosts in the past 22 years.
Since the great coffee freeze of 1975, however, many coffee farmers in northern Parana and Sao Paulo have migrated to milder climates in Minas Gerais, Espirito Santo and Bahia.
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