The eastern Santa Catarina state is characterized by high level terrain, with plateau and subparallel coastal mountains, whose altitude above 1000 m decreases toward the ocean. The eastern Santa Catarina is often affected by extratropical cyclones. Generally, this system produces high wind speeds and causes socio-economic losses at coastal cities. In this study, the observed wind in the eastern Santa Catarina was analyzed for cases with presence of extratropical cyclones near to the coast. The purpose was to identify how the cyclones and local factors, as topography, have contributed to the occurrence of wind. Cyclones over an area near to the coast were selected for the period from 1998 to 2008. The influence of the cyclones on the wind was analyzed through the correlations between cyclone depth and wind speed observed at seven meteorological stations. The contribution from local factors was studied through frequency analysis of wind direction for each meteorological station. The results showed that statistically, only strong cyclones have influence over the wind. For cases of weak cyclones, it was verified that the characteristics of topography, effects of breeze, and cyclone offshore distance have shown almost the same influence on wind.
Eastern Santa Catarina; behavior of wind; extratropical cyclone
