This study evaluates the effect of the land use update to meteorological simulations in the Metropolitan Region of Greater Vitoria (MRGV) using the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) mesoscale model. WRF performance was analyzed using monitoring data like wind speed and direction, temperature, and sensible heat flux. In general, the changes in the simulations results with the updating of the land use data are quite subtle, and these values are better represented by the local data in the cold front period. The results obtained indicate a slight improvement in the wind speed and direction when land use is local for the airport station, where the mean bias reduced from − 0.124 to − 0.079, thereby better capturing smaller urban centers and the urban canopy.