March Weather in Alturas United StatesDaily high temperatures increase by 6°F, from 50°F to 56°F, rarely falling below 38°F or exceeding 70°F. Daily low temperatures increase by 2°F, from 27°F to 29°F, rarely falling below 17°F or exceeding 38°F. For reference, on July 28, the hottest day of the year, temperatures in Alturas typically range from 48°F to 88°F, while on December 30, the coldest day of the year, they range from 21°F to 40°F. The figure below shows you a compact characterization of the hourly average temperatures for the quarter of the year centered on March. 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. Hacıbektaş, Turkey (6,671 miles away) is the far-away foreign place with temperatures most similar to Alturas (view comparison). CloudsThe month of March in Alturas experiences gradually decreasing cloud cover, with the percentage of time that the sky is overcast or mostly cloudy decreasing from 60% to 54%. The clearest day of the month is March 31, with clear, mostly clear, or partly cloudy conditions 47% of the time. For reference, on January 10, the cloudiest day of the year, the chance of overcast or mostly cloudy conditions is 61%, while on July 27, the clearest day of the year, the chance of clear, mostly clear, or partly cloudy skies is 88%. PrecipitationA wet day is one with at least 0.04 inches of liquid or liquid-equivalent precipitation. In Alturas, the chance of a wet day over the course of March is rapidly decreasing, starting the month at 24% and ending it at 17%. For reference, the year's highest daily chance of a wet day is 25% on December 6, and its lowest chance is 3% on August 13. Over the course of March in Alturas, the chance of a day with only rain decreases from 16% to 13%, the chance of a day with mixed snow and rain decreases from 6% to 4%, and the chance of a day with only snow remains an essentially constant 1% throughout. 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 March in Alturas is gradually decreasing, starting the month at 1.2 inches, when it rarely exceeds 2.5 inches or falls below 0.3 inches, and ending the month at 1.0 inches, when it rarely exceeds 1.9 inches or falls below 0.2 inches. The highest average 31-day accumulation is 1.2 inches on March 3. 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 March in Alturas is gradually decreasing, starting the month at 2.0 inches, when it rarely exceeds 5.4 inches or falls below 0.1 inches, and ending the month at 1.1 inches, when it rarely exceeds 2.8 inches or falls below -0.0 inches. SunOver the course of March in Alturas, the length of the day is rapidly increasing. From the start to the end of the month, the length of the day increases by 1 hour, 23 minutes, implying an average daily increase of 2 minutes, 47 seconds, and weekly increase of 19 minutes, 29 seconds. The shortest day of the month is March 1, with 11 hours, 18 minutes of daylight and the longest day is March 31, with 12 hours, 41 minutes of daylight. The earliest sunrise of the month in Alturas is 6:22 AM on March 9 and the latest sunrise is 58 minutes later at 7:21 AM on March 10. The earliest sunset is 5:53 PM on March 1 and the latest sunset is 1 hour, 34 minutes later at 7:27 PM on March 31. Daylight saving time (DST) ends at 3:00 AM on March 10, 2024, shifting sunrise and sunset to be an hour earlier. For reference, on June 20, the longest day of the year, the Sun rises at 5:28 AM and sets 15 hours, 11 minutes later, at 8:39 PM, while on December 21, the shortest day of the year, it rises at 7:25 AM and sets 9 hours, 10 minutes later, at 4:35 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 March 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 Alturas is essentially constant during March, 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 Alturas is essentially constant during March, remaining within 0.1 miles per hour of 9.4 miles per hour throughout. For reference, on March 15, the windiest day of the year, the daily average wind speed is 9.5 miles per hour, while on August 5, the calmest day of the year, the daily average wind speed is 6.6 miles per hour. The highest daily average wind speed during March is 9.5 miles per hour on March 26. The wind direction in Alturas during March is predominantly out of the south from March 1 to March 14 and the west from March 14 to March 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 Alturas typically lasts for 3.4 months (104 days), from around June 3 to around September 15, rarely starting before May 13 or after June 22, and rarely ending before August 29 or after October 3. The month of March in Alturas is reliably fully outside of 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 Alturas are essentially constant during March, remaining within 17°F of 30°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 Alturas is rapidly increasing during March, rising by 1.6 kWh, from 3.8 kWh to 5.3 kWh, over the course of the month. TopographyFor the purposes of this report, the geographical coordinates of Alturas are 41.487 deg latitude, -120.543 deg longitude, and 4,367 ft elevation. The topography within 2 miles of Alturas contains only modest variations in elevation, with a maximum elevation change of 187 feet and an average elevation above sea level of 4,382 feet. Within 10 miles contains only modest variations in elevation (2,031 feet). Within 50 miles contains large variations in elevation (6,535 feet). The area within 2 miles of Alturas is covered by shrubs (45%) and cropland (41%), within 10 miles by shrubs (80%) and cropland (12%), and within 50 miles by shrubs (78%) and trees (11%). Data SourcesThis report illustrates the typical weather in Alturas, 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, Alturas Municipal Airport, in our network suitable to be used as a proxy for the historical temperature and dew point records of Alturas. At a distance of 2 kilometer from Alturas, 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 Alturas 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. |