Climate Change and Extreme Storm Events: A Study of the Impacts in the Cities of Petrópolis and Juiz de Fora in Brazil

In tropical and subtropical climatic regions, rainstorms are one of the main elements that cause climate extremes, mainly in the summer, resulting in a fast transformation of the landscapes. The cities of Petrópolis and Juiz de Fora, located in the southeast region of Brazil, have a relevant history of pluviometric impacts, above all due to extreme events. In the climate change scenario, the study of extreme rainfall events and their impacts becomes increasingly meaningful. Thus, this chapter aims to study the impact of extreme rainstorm events in the cities of Petrópolis and Juiz de Fora in the function of a regional analysis of the acting atmospheric systems. The cities of Juiz de Fora and Petrópolis present almost similar values for the lower limit to define an event as an extreme event (Petrópolis = 45.2 mm and Juiz de Fora = 45.6 mm). The intensities of these events are distinct, highlighting the necessity to look at the local environmental characteristics that might influence the intensity of such events in the different studied localities. The obtained pluviometric data suggests a remarkable participation of the South Atlantic Convergence Zone (SACZ) at the studied municipalities. The Petropolis municipality presented the overall higher total impacts throughout the month and a higher total of days with records of impacts, when compared to Juiz de Fora. We also observed that in the Juiz de Fora municipality, the days with records of impacts do not correlate with the days with extreme events. Thus, we can conclude that extreme events are not necessarily going to result in impacts on the urban space. Still, the occurrence of extreme events followed by unusual rain can favor the occurrence of impacts and/or increase/amplify the existing ones.