May Weather in Aitape Papua New GuineaDaily high temperatures are around 84°F, rarely falling below 81°F or exceeding 86°F. The highest daily average high temperature is 84°F on May 8. Daily low temperatures are around 79°F, rarely falling below 77°F or exceeding 80°F. The highest daily average low temperature is 79°F on May 5. For reference, on October 20, the hottest day of the year, temperatures in Aitape typically range from 78°F to 84°F, while on July 31, the coldest day of the year, they range from 78°F to 83°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. Banana Village, Kiribati (4,182 miles away); Fernando de Noronha (Distrito Estadual), Pernambuco, Brazil (11,847 miles); and Camayenne, Guinea (10,747 miles) are the far-away foreign places with temperatures most similar to Aitape (view comparison). CloudsThe month of May in Aitape experiences essentially constant cloud cover, with the percentage of time that the sky is overcast or mostly cloudy remaining about 82% throughout the month. The lowest chance of overcast or mostly cloudy conditions is 81% on May 11. The clearest day of the month is May 11, with clear, mostly clear, or partly cloudy conditions 19% of the time. For reference, on December 16, the cloudiest day of the year, the chance of overcast or mostly cloudy conditions is 90%, while on August 23, the clearest day of the year, the chance of clear, mostly clear, or partly cloudy skies is 22%. PrecipitationA wet day is one with at least 0.04 inches of liquid or liquid-equivalent precipitation. In Aitape, the chance of a wet day over the course of May is gradually decreasing, starting the month at 46% and ending it at 43%. For reference, the year's highest daily chance of a wet day is 54% on February 9, and its lowest chance is 38% on September 17. 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 Aitape is decreasing, starting the month at 6.0 inches, when it rarely exceeds 10.6 inches or falls below 2.0 inches, and ending the month at 5.0 inches, when it rarely exceeds 8.5 inches or falls below 2.1 inches. SunOver the course of May in Aitape, the length of the day is essentially constant. The shortest day of the month is May 31, with 11 hours, 57 minutes of daylight and the longest day is May 1, with 12 hours, 0 minutes of daylight. The earliest sunrise of the month in Aitape is 6:27 AM on May 7 and the latest sunrise is 2 minutes, 16 seconds later at 6:29 AM on May 31. The latest sunset is 6:27 PM on May 1 and the earliest sunset is 1 minute, 36 seconds earlier at 6:26 PM on May 18. Daylight saving time is not observed in Aitape during 2024. For reference, on December 21, the longest day of the year, the Sun rises at 6:19 AM and sets 12 hours, 18 minutes later, at 6:37 PM, while on June 20, the shortest day of the year, it rises at 6:33 AM and sets 11 hours, 56 minutes later, at 6:30 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 Aitape is essentially constant during May, remaining around 100% 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 Aitape is essentially constant during May, remaining around 4.1 miles per hour throughout. For reference, on March 2, the windiest day of the year, the daily average wind speed is 5.5 miles per hour, while on October 21, the calmest day of the year, the daily average wind speed is 4.0 miles per hour. The hourly average wind direction in Aitape throughout May is predominantly from the east, with a peak proportion of 64% on May 31. Water TemperatureAitape 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 Aitape is essentially constant during May, remaining around 85°F throughout. The highest average surface water temperature during May is 85°F on May 19. 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 Aitape are sufficiently warm 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 Aitape are very rapidly increasing during May, increasing by 929°F, from 9,266°F to 10,195°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 Aitape is essentially constant during May, remaining within 0.2 kWh of 4.2 kWh throughout. TopographyFor the purposes of this report, the geographical coordinates of Aitape are -3.153 deg latitude, 142.363 deg longitude, and 39 ft elevation. The topography within 2 miles of Aitape contains only modest variations in elevation, with a maximum elevation change of 246 feet and an average elevation above sea level of 33 feet. Within 10 miles contains only modest variations in elevation (1,450 feet). Within 50 miles contains very significant variations in elevation (6,385 feet). The area within 2 miles of Aitape is covered by water (47%), trees (34%), and cropland (13%), within 10 miles by water (54%) and trees (40%), and within 50 miles by water (57%) and trees (39%). Data SourcesThis report illustrates the typical weather in Aitape, based on a statistical analysis of historical hourly weather reports and model reconstructions from January 1, 1980 to December 31, 2016. Aitape 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 Aitape, 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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