Fall Weather in Barrow United StatesDaily high temperatures decrease by 40°F, from 40°F to 0°F, rarely falling below -14°F or exceeding 50°F. Daily low temperatures decrease by 43°F, from 33°F to -10°F, rarely falling below -24°F or exceeding 40°F. For reference, on July 26, the hottest day of the year, temperatures in Barrow typically range from 36°F to 47°F, while on January 25, the coldest day of the year, they range from -19°F to -8°F. The figure below shows you a compact characterization of the hourly average fall temperatures. The horizontal axis is the day, the vertical axis is the hour of the day, and the color is the average temperature for that hour and day. Tosontsengel, Mongolia (3,381 miles away) and McMurdo Station, Antarctica (10,421 miles) are the far-away foreign places with temperatures most similar to Barrow (view comparison). CloudsThe fall in Barrow experiences rapidly increasing cloud cover, with the percentage of time that the sky is overcast or mostly cloudy increasing from 78% to 93%. The clearest day of the fall is September 7, with clear, mostly clear, or partly cloudy conditions 22% of the time. For reference, on January 22, the cloudiest day of the year, the chance of overcast or mostly cloudy conditions is 96%, while on June 10, the clearest day of the year, the chance of clear, mostly clear, or partly cloudy skies is 30%. PrecipitationA wet day is one with at least 0.04 inches of liquid or liquid-equivalent precipitation. In Barrow, the chance of a wet day over the course of the fall is very rapidly decreasing, starting the season at 16% and ending it at 3%. For reference, the year's highest daily chance of a wet day is 21% on August 3, and its lowest chance is 1% on March 20. Over the course of the fall in Barrow, the chance of a day with only rain decreases from 14% to 0%, the chance of a day with mixed snow and rain remains an essentially constant 1% throughout, and the chance of a day with only snow increases from 0% to 3%. RainfallTo show variation within the season and not just the monthly totals, we show the rainfall accumulated over a sliding 31-day period centered around each day. The average sliding 31-day rainfall during the fall in Barrow is decreasing, starting the season at 0.7 inches, when it rarely exceeds 1.3 inches or falls below 0.1 inches, and ending the season at 0.0 inches, when it rarely exceeds 0.0 inches or falls below -0.0 inches. SnowfallAs with rainfall, we consider the snowfall accumulated over a sliding 31-day period centered around each day. The average sliding 31-day snowfall during the fall in Barrow is gradually increasing, starting the season at 0.5 inches, when it rarely exceeds 1.9 inches or falls below -0.0 inches, and ending the season at 1.4 inches, when it rarely exceeds 4.6 inches or falls below -0.0 inches. The highest average 31-day accumulation is 2.1 inches on October 7. SunDue to its extreme latitude, Barrow experiences polar day (also known as the midnight Sun) during the summer and polar night during the winter. These are periods of time in which the sun is continuously above or below the horizon for more than one day. The precise start and end dates of polar day and night vary from year to year and depend on the precise location and elevation of the observer, and the local topography. In the winter in Barrow during 2024, the Sun is continuously below the horizon for 2.1 months, setting at 1:23 PM on November 18, and not rising again until 1:10 PM on January 23. As such, polar night begins in the fall and lasts beyond the end of the season. The longest day of the fall is September 1, with 15 hours, 35 minutes of daylight. The earliest sunrise of the fall in Barrow is 6:37 AM on September 1 and the latest sunrise is 6 hours, 22 minutes later at 1:00 PM on November 18. The latest sunset is 10:12 PM on September 1 and the earliest sunset is 8 hours, 49 minutes earlier at 1:23 PM on November 18. Daylight saving time (DST) starts at 1:00 AM on November 3, 2024, shifting sunrise and sunset to be an hour later. The figure below presents a compact representation of the sun's elevation (the angle of the sun above the horizon) and azimuth (its compass bearing) for every hour of every day in the reporting period. The horizontal axis is the day of the year and the vertical axis is the hour of the day. For a given day and hour of that day, the background color indicates the azimuth of the sun at that moment. The black isolines are contours of constant solar elevation. MoonThe figure below presents a compact representation of key lunar data for the fall of 2024. The horizontal axis is the day, the vertical axis is the hour of the day, and the colored areas indicate when the moon is above the horizon. The vertical gray bars (new Moons) and blue bars (full Moons) indicate key Moon phases. The label associated with each bar indicates the date and time that the phase is obtained, and the companion time labels indicate the rise and set times of the Moon for the nearest time interval in which the moon is above the horizon. HumidityWe base the humidity comfort level on the dew point, as it determines whether perspiration will evaporate from the skin, thereby cooling the body. Lower dew points feel drier and higher dew points feel more humid. Unlike temperature, which typically varies significantly between night and day, dew point tends to change more slowly, so while the temperature may drop at night, a muggy day is typically followed by a muggy night. The chance that a given day will be muggy in Barrow is essentially constant during the fall, remaining around 0% throughout. WindThis section discusses the wide-area hourly average wind vector (speed and direction) at 10 meters above the ground. The wind experienced at any given location is highly dependent on local topography and other factors, and instantaneous wind speed and direction vary more widely than hourly averages. The average hourly wind speed in Barrow is increasing during the fall, increasing from 11.9 miles per hour to 13.3 miles per hour over the course of the season. For reference, on January 10, the windiest day of the year, the daily average wind speed is 14.1 miles per hour, while on June 30, the calmest day of the year, the daily average wind speed is 10.5 miles per hour. The hourly average wind direction in Barrow throughout the fall is predominantly from the east, with a peak proportion of 54% on November 30. Water TemperatureBarrow is located near a large body of water (e.g., ocean, sea, or large lake). This section reports on the wide-area average surface temperature of that water. The average surface water temperature in Barrow is decreasing during the fall, falling by 6°F, from 36°F to 29°F, over the course of the season. Growing SeasonDefinitions of the growing season vary throughout the world, but for the purposes of this report, we define it as the longest continuous period of non-freezing temperatures (≥ 32°F) in the year (the calendar year in the Northern Hemisphere, or from July 1 until June 30 in the Southern Hemisphere). Temperatures in Barrow are sufficiently cold year round that it is not entirely meaningful to discuss the growing season in these terms. We nevertheless include the chart below as an illustration of the distribution of temperatures experienced throughout the year. Growing degree days are a measure of yearly heat accumulation used to predict plant and animal development, and defined as the integral of warmth above a base temperature, discarding any excess above a maximum temperature. In this report, we use a base of 50°F and a cap of 86°F. The average accumulated growing degree days in Barrow are essentially constant during the fall, remaining around 31°F throughout. Solar EnergyThis section discusses the total daily incident shortwave solar energy reaching the surface of the ground over a wide area, taking full account of seasonal variations in the length of the day, the elevation of the Sun above the horizon, and absorption by clouds and other atmospheric constituents. Shortwave radiation includes visible light and ultraviolet radiation. The average daily incident shortwave solar energy in Barrow is very rapidly decreasing during the fall, falling by 2.1 kWh, from 2.1 kWh to 0.0 kWh, over the course of the season. TopographyFor the purposes of this report, the geographical coordinates of Barrow are 71.291 deg latitude, -156.789 deg longitude, and 10 ft elevation. The topography within 2 miles of Barrow is essentially flat, with a maximum elevation change of 56 feet and an average elevation above sea level of 13 feet. Within 10 miles is also essentially flat (79 feet). Within 50 miles is essentially flat (108 feet). The area within 2 miles of Barrow is covered by water (52%), sparse vegetation (21%), grassland (14%), and bare soil (12%), within 10 miles by water (64%) and grassland (20%), and within 50 miles by water (74%) and herbaceous vegetation (10%). Data SourcesThis report illustrates the typical weather in Barrow, based on a statistical analysis of historical hourly weather reports and model reconstructions from January 1, 1980 to December 31, 2016. Temperature and Dew PointThere is only a single weather station, Wiley Post-Will Rogers Memorial Airport, in our network suitable to be used as a proxy for the historical temperature and dew point records of Barrow. At a distance of 1 kilometers from Barrow, closer than our threshold of 150 kilometers, this station is deemed sufficiently nearby to be relied upon as our primary source for temperature and dew point records. The station records are corrected for the elevation difference between the station and Barrow according to the International Standard Atmosphere , and by the relative change present in the MERRA-2 satellite-era reanalysis between the two locations. Please note that the station records themselves may additionally have been back-filled using other nearby stations or the MERRA-2 reanalysis. Other DataAll data relating to the Sun's position (e.g., sunrise and sunset) are computed using astronomical formulas from the book, Astronomical Algorithms 2nd Edition , by Jean Meeus. All other weather data, including cloud cover, precipitation, wind speed and direction, and solar flux, come from NASA's MERRA-2 Modern-Era Retrospective Analysis . This reanalysis combines a variety of wide-area measurements in a state-of-the-art global meteorological model to reconstruct the hourly history of weather throughout the world on a 50-kilometer grid. Land Use data comes from the Global Land Cover SHARE database , published by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. Elevation data comes from the Shuttle Radar Topography Mission (SRTM) , published by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Names, locations, and time zones of places and some airports come from the GeoNames Geographical Database . Time zones for airports and weather stations are provided by AskGeo.com . Maps are © OpenStreetMap contributors. DisclaimerThe information on this site is provided as is, without any assurances as to its accuracy or suitability for any purpose. Weather data is prone to errors, outages, and other defects. We assume no responsibility for any decisions made on the basis of the content presented on this site. We draw particular cautious attention to our reliance on the MERRA-2 model-based reconstructions for a number of important data series. While having the tremendous advantages of temporal and spatial completeness, these reconstructions: (1) are based on computer models that may have model-based errors, (2) are coarsely sampled on a 50 km grid and are therefore unable to reconstruct the local variations of many microclimates, and (3) have particular difficulty with the weather in some coastal areas, especially small islands. We further caution that our travel scores are only as good as the data that underpin them, that weather conditions at any given location and time are unpredictable and variable, and that the definition of the scores reflects a particular set of preferences that may not agree with those of any particular reader. Please review our full terms contained on our Terms of Service page. |