Coffee areas should experience a couple of dry days before rain returns to Parana state and spreads northwards, aiding crop development, private meteorologists Somar said on Monday. During the weekend, south Minas and Minas Cerrado received 26 and 21 millimeters (1.0 to 0.8 inches) of rain respectively. Rainfall in south Minas was less than expected.
"Between Wednesday and Thursday a new cold front in south Brazil will bring rain to Parana," Somar said in a daily report. "The weather system will reach the coffee belt and bring rain until the weekend." Another cold front should bring widespread rain to Brazilian coffee areas between November 15-17.
South Minas, a key coffee area, received 142 to 144 millimeters (5.6 inches) of rain in October, around the monthly average. The moisture aided 2005 crop flowering after a long dry spell in August and September.
Southwest Sao Paulo state and Parana were wettest with 210 mm and 202 mm rain respectively, or 64 percent and 39 percent more than usual in October.
But the Cerrado area of Minas Gerais had only 24 mm, or 80 percent less than the October 5-year average. Rainfall was also below average in the forested zones of Minas Gerais (-44 percent) and Espirito Santo (-15 percent) and in south Bahia (-71 percent).