Alagoas - Geography

The low altitudes predominate in Alagoas; about 60% of the State are lower than 200 m, and about 90% are lower than 300 m.
Alagoas can be divided in three zones: the coastal zone, the strip closer to the coast; the sertão, in the western extreme; and a transition zone, called agreste, in between the other two.
Close to the coast, the climate is hot (average 24 degrees Celsius), with rains concentrated on the Brazilian Autumn and Winter (around March - August). In the sertão, the climate is semi-arid, with higher temperatures and amplitudes (yearly variation between 17 and 33 degrees), and predominance of dry seasons.
Vegetation: the coast was originally covered all along by the Atlantic Forest, but it was significantly devastated by human occupation; in the sertão, the predominant vegetation is the caatinga; in the transitional agreste, the vegetation shows also signs of both forests and caatingas.
Rivers in Alagoas can be divided in two groups: river which flow to the Atlantic, like Camaragibe and Mundaú (which cuts across Maceió), and rivers tributaries to the São Francisco, one of the most important Brazilian rivers, which defines borders between Alagoas and Sergipe.


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