Pinheiro Machado () is a

municipality A municipality is usually a single administrative division having corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality'' may also mean the go ...

in the state of

Rio Grande do Sul Rio Grande do Sul (, , ; "Great River of the South") is a Federative units of Brazil, state in the South Region, Brazil, southern region of Brazil. It is the Federative_units_of_Brazil#List, fifth-most-populous state and the List of Brazilian st ...

, Brazil.

History

Pinheiro Machado is one of the most ancient towns in the state of Rio Grande do Sul. Until 1830, the area was owned by the city of Rio Grande. After it became a part of Piratini city, separating on February 24, 1879, by the name of Nossa Senhora da Luz, or Nossa senhora da Luz das Cacimbinhas. The occupation of this town, according to records, began by the brigadier Rafael Pinto Bandeira, about 1765. The first inhabitants were the azorean Tomás Antonio de Oliveira and José Dutra de Andrade, who owned "allotments" (Portuguese: ''sesmaria'' ( pt)) of land at Coxilha do Veleda, in 1790. According to the legend, Dutra de Andrade had lost his vision and then, he made a promise that if he would recover his vision washing his eyes on the miraculous water of the well located there, he would order the building of a chantry in honor of Nossa Senhora Aparecida and so, the miracle happened. After the chantry, a parsonage was created in 1851.

Geography

Pinheiro Machado is located at

latitude In geography, latitude is a coordinate that specifies the north– south position of a point on the surface of the Earth or another celestial body. Latitude is given as an angle that ranges from –90° at the south pole to 90° at the north pol ...

31º34'42"S and

longitude Longitude (, ) is a geographic coordinate that specifies the east–west position of a point on the surface of the Earth, or another celestial body. It is an angular measurement, usually expressed in degrees and denoted by the Greek letter l ...

53º22'52"W, at an altitude of . It has an area of and the population in 2020 was 12,195.

Relief

The relief, located in a plateau known as Serras de Sudeste, is a rather irregular, specially the Passarinho's Hill, Veleda's Hill and Asperezas Hill. Also highlights the formation of countless hills, mainly in the second district. The soil is characterized by shallow, with the presence of rock outcroppings.

Climate

The climate of Pinheiro Machado is

oceanic Oceanic may refer to: *Of or relating to the ocean *Of or relating to Oceania **Oceanic climate **Oceanic languages **Oceanic person or people, also called "Pacific Islander(s)" Places * Oceanic, British Columbia, a settlement on Smith Island, ...

(''Cfb'', according to the

Köppen climate classification The Köppen climate classification is one of the most widely used climate classification systems. It was first published by German-Russian climatologist Wladimir Köppen (1846–1940) in 1884, with several later modifications by Köppen, notabl ...

), with warm summers and cool winters (with high occurrence of

frost Frost is a thin layer of ice on a solid surface, which forms from water vapor in an above-freezing atmosphere coming in contact with a solid surface whose temperature is below freezing, and resulting in a phase change from water vapor (a gas) ...

), with annual temperature of about . The hottest month is January, with average temperature of , while the coldest month is July, with average temperature of . The annual rainfall is of about , with rains regularly distributed during the year.

Snowfalls Snow comprises individual ice crystals that grow while suspended in the atmosphere—usually within clouds—and then fall, accumulating on the ground where they undergo further changes. It consists of frozen crystalline water throughout ...

are not uncommon in the city, and can occur about one or twice a decade. The last snowfalls occurred on September 4, 2006 and on September 5, 2008, with moderate snowfall during the afternoon. Frosts and sleet are more common.

References

Municipalities in Rio Grande do Sul {{RioGrandedoSul-geo-stub