Francisco Beltrão

Francisco Beltrão
Francisco Beltrão. November, 2004

Flag
Francisco Beltrão
Coordinates:
Country Brazil
State Paraná
Government
 • Mayor Vilmar Cordasso (PP)
Area
 • Total 731 km2 (282.2 sq mi)
Elevation 650 m (2,133 ft)
Population (2006)
 • Total 71,463
 • Density 97.12/km2 (251.5/sq mi)
  IBGE
Time zone UTC (UTC-3)
Website (pt) franciscobeltrao.pr.gov.br

Francisco Beltrão is the largest town in the southwest region of Paraná state in Brazil. It was established on December 14, 1952. According to the official The population is about 72,000 inhabitants, which 85% live in the city and 15% in the land. Francisco Beltrão is very close to two another towns, Marmeleiro and Renascença. The economy is based on agriculture, corn crops, turkey and chicken meat exportation, textile, aluminium pans, and mobile industries, public services and small commerce. The mayor as of 2006 is Vilmar Cordasso.

Contents

Brief

Francisco Beltrão is in the middle of the Southwest region of the Paraná state, which has at about 500,000 inhabitants in a 20,000 square kilometers (about 7700 square miles), nearly 5% of the whole state's population in somewhat 10% of the whole state's area. Most of its surrounding populated places are small agriculture based villages and towns, which don't have enough services, so people from this places oft report to larger town, as FB, concentrating in this town the hole economic activities of the region.

The city is served by Paulo Abdala Airport.

Geography

Francisco Beltrão is located in the third parana's highland. The downtown elevation is around 550 meters. The sourrouding area rises up to 950 m, causing the city to be in a bowl shape. Several rivers run throughout its area. The most important is the "Rio Marrecas", which was where the first settlement was established about 60 years ago.

Climate

The weather is warm most of the year. Summers are sometimes hot, with temperatures reaching over 32°C (90°F) in the hotter days. The average high temperature is 30°C (86°F) and the lows are around 18°C. However in summer time the winds are calm, what causes the heat index to be high.

In the winter the average low is 8°C (48°F), with temperatures falling below freezing point up to ten days per year. The higs are around 20°C (68°F) and the winds are a bit more heavier than in summer. During calm wind nights, the bowl shape of the city causes the cold air to descent in the center of the bowl, causing the temperatures to decline much more than the surrounding areas. However as soon as the sun rises, this effect quickly vanishes.

The lowest ever recorded temperature was in July 2000, -5°C (23°F). The highest happened in November 1985, 38°C (100°F). Snow is rare, happening once or twice every ten year. The last registered events were in July 2007, July 1975, July 1965 and July 1955. Frozes are more common and occur throughout all the winter, up to 20 days a year.

The average rainfall is high, around 2000mm/yr. According to Köppen's climate classification the weather in Francisco Beltrão is Cfa.[1]

Economy

Since 2000 the GDP has growth over 7,5% per year.[2] The unemployment has dropped from 11% of its 35 000 economic ative people, to somewhat 6% as of 2006.[3] For the last three years the city was proportionally the first, or at least the fifth, which most created formal work places in the Paraná.[4]

Culture

Most of the inhabitants are descendants from Italian and German immigrants, which first lived in the southern states of Rio Grande do Sul and Santa Catarina, and then come to the region where the city is placed now, by the years of 1940 until 1960. According to some researches, 50% of population are descendants of Italian immigrants, and 15% are descendants of German immigrants. In the last years is expect to decrease this proportion due to the evasion of the young people, that goes study in the bigger cities, and also because of the increasing number of immigrants from other parts of northern Brazil.

Weather Statistics (1974–2005)[5]
Month Temperature (°C)
Avg High Avg Avg Low
Jan 30.2 23.6 18.5
Feb 29.8 23.1 18.2
Mar 29.3 22.2 17
Apr 26.3 19.3 14.2
May 22.6 15.7 10.7
Jun 21.0 14.2 9.3
Jul 21.3 14.2 8.9
Aug 23.4 16.0 10.2
Sep 24.2 17.4 11.8
Oct 26.6 20.0 14.4
Nov 28.3 21.6 15.8
Dic 29.6 23.1 17.2
Yr 25.9 19.0 13.7

References

  1. ^ Instituto Agronômico do Paraná - IAPAR. [1]
  2. ^ Instituto Brasileiro de Geografia e Estatística - IBGE. [2]
  3. ^ Ministério do Trabalho e Emprego - CAGED. [3]
  4. ^ Gazeta do Povo online
  5. ^ Instituto Agronômico do Paraná - IAPAR. [4]