May Weather in Kuqa ChinaDaily high temperatures increase by 8°F, from 77°F to 85°F, rarely falling below 66°F or exceeding 93°F. Daily low temperatures increase by 8°F, from 53°F to 62°F, rarely falling below 45°F or exceeding 68°F. For reference, on July 23, the hottest day of the year, temperatures in Kuqa typically range from 70°F to 94°F, while on January 12, the coldest day of the year, they range from 16°F to 31°F. The figure below shows you a compact characterization of the hourly average temperatures for the quarter of the year centered on May. 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. Fairbury, Nebraska, United States (6,788 miles away) is the far-away foreign place with temperatures most similar to Kuqa (view comparison). CloudsThe month of May in Kuqa experiences gradually decreasing cloud cover, with the percentage of time that the sky is overcast or mostly cloudy decreasing from 50% to 44%. The clearest day of the month is May 31, with clear, mostly clear, or partly cloudy conditions 56% of the time. For reference, on March 23, the cloudiest day of the year, the chance of overcast or mostly cloudy conditions is 55%, while on August 10, the clearest day of the year, the chance of clear, mostly clear, or partly cloudy skies is 83%. PrecipitationA wet day is one with at least 0.04 inches of liquid or liquid-equivalent precipitation. In Kuqa, the chance of a wet day over the course of May is gradually increasing, starting the month at 3% and ending it at 5%. For reference, the year's highest daily chance of a wet day is 9% on June 26, and its lowest chance is 0% on December 29. RainfallTo show variation within the month and not just the monthly total, we show the rainfall accumulated over a sliding 31-day period centered around each day. The average sliding 31-day rainfall during May in Kuqa is gradually increasing, starting the month at 0.2 inches, when it rarely exceeds 0.5 inches, and ending the month at 0.4 inches, when it rarely exceeds 1.0 inches. SunOver the course of May in Kuqa, the length of the day is increasing. From the start to the end of the month, the length of the day increases by 57 minutes, implying an average daily increase of 1 minute, 55 seconds, and weekly increase of 13 minutes, 23 seconds. The shortest day of the month is May 1, with 14 hours, 2 minutes of daylight and the longest day is May 31, with 14 hours, 59 minutes of daylight. The latest sunrise of the month in Kuqa is 5:24 AM on May 1 and the earliest sunrise is 28 minutes earlier at 4:56 AM on May 31. The earliest sunset is 7:26 PM on May 1 and the latest sunset is 29 minutes later at 7:55 PM on May 31. Daylight saving time is not observed in Kuqa during 2024. For reference, on June 20, the longest day of the year, the Sun rises at 4:53 AM and sets 15 hours, 13 minutes later, at 8:06 PM, while on December 21, the shortest day of the year, it rises at 7:52 AM and sets 9 hours, 9 minutes later, at 5:00 PM. 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 May 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 Kuqa is essentially constant during May, 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 Kuqa is essentially constant during May, remaining within 0.1 miles per hour of 8.6 miles per hour throughout. For reference, on May 18, the windiest day of the year, the daily average wind speed is 8.7 miles per hour, while on December 26, the calmest day of the year, the daily average wind speed is 3.5 miles per hour. The highest daily average wind speed during May is 8.7 miles per hour on May 18. The hourly average wind direction in Kuqa throughout May is predominantly from the north, with a peak proportion of 43% on May 31. 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). The growing season in Kuqa typically lasts for 7.5 months (230 days), from around March 23 to around November 8, rarely starting before March 4 or after April 12, and rarely ending before October 22 or after November 24. The month of May in Kuqa is reliably fully within the growing season. 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 Kuqa are rapidly increasing during May, increasing by 580°F, from 384°F to 964°F, over the course of the month. 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 Kuqa is gradually increasing during May, rising by 0.5 kWh, from 6.4 kWh to 6.9 kWh, over the course of the month. TopographyFor the purposes of this report, the geographical coordinates of Kuqa are 41.728 deg latitude, 82.936 deg longitude, and 3,497 ft elevation. The topography within 2 miles of Kuqa contains only modest variations in elevation, with a maximum elevation change of 171 feet and an average elevation above sea level of 3,508 feet. Within 10 miles contains only modest variations in elevation (2,457 feet). Within 50 miles contains large variations in elevation (10,692 feet). The area within 2 miles of Kuqa is covered by cropland (66%) and artificial surfaces (34%), within 10 miles by bare soil (54%) and cropland (24%), and within 50 miles by grassland (43%) and bare soil (34%). Data SourcesThis report illustrates the typical weather in Kuqa, based on a statistical analysis of historical hourly weather reports and model reconstructions from January 1, 1980 to December 31, 2016. Kuqa is further than 200 kilometers from the nearest reliable weather station, so the weather-related data on this page were taken entirely from NASA's MERRA-2 satellite-era reanalysis . 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. The temperature and dew point estimates are corrected for the difference between the reference elevation of the MERRA-2 grid cell and the elevation of Kuqa, according to the International Standard Atmosphere . All 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. 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. 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