August Weather in Sylacauga United StatesDaily high temperatures are around 89°F, rarely falling below 81°F or exceeding 96°F. Daily low temperatures decrease by 2°F, from 72°F to 70°F, rarely falling below 64°F or exceeding 75°F. For reference, on July 21, the hottest day of the year, temperatures in Sylacauga typically range from 72°F to 90°F, while on January 17, the coldest day of the year, they range from 37°F to 55°F. The figure below shows you a compact characterization of the hourly average temperatures for the quarter of the year centered on August. 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. Tepehan, Turkey (6,384 miles away) and Baiyun, China (8,033 miles) are the far-away foreign places with temperatures most similar to Sylacauga (view comparison). CloudsThe month of August in Sylacauga experiences essentially constant cloud cover, with the percentage of time that the sky is overcast or mostly cloudy remaining about 38% throughout the month. The clearest day of the month is August 11, with clear, mostly clear, or partly cloudy conditions 63% of the time. For reference, on January 4, the cloudiest day of the year, the chance of overcast or mostly cloudy conditions is 54%, while on October 10, the clearest day of the year, the chance of clear, mostly clear, or partly cloudy skies is 67%. PrecipitationA wet day is one with at least 0.04 inches of liquid or liquid-equivalent precipitation. In Sylacauga, the chance of a wet day over the course of August is very rapidly decreasing, starting the month at 39% and ending it at 30%. For reference, the year's highest daily chance of a wet day is 44% on July 8, and its lowest chance is 18% on October 14. 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 August in Sylacauga is essentially constant, remaining about 3.1 inches throughout, and rarely exceeding 5.8 inches or falling below 1.1 inches. The lowest average 31-day accumulation is 2.9 inches on August 22. SunOver the course of August in Sylacauga, the length of the day is decreasing. From the start to the end of the month, the length of the day decreases by 54 minutes, implying an average daily decrease of 1 minute, 47 seconds, and weekly decrease of 12 minutes, 31 seconds. The shortest day of the month is August 31, with 12 hours, 52 minutes of daylight and the longest day is August 1, with 13 hours, 45 minutes of daylight. The earliest sunrise of the month in Sylacauga is 5:58 AM on August 1 and the latest sunrise is 21 minutes later at 6:19 AM on August 31. The latest sunset is 7:43 PM on August 1 and the earliest sunset is 33 minutes earlier at 7:10 PM on August 31. Daylight saving time is observed in Sylacauga during 2024, but it neither starts nor ends during August, so the entire month is in standard time. For reference, on June 20, the longest day of the year, the Sun rises at 5:36 AM and sets 14 hours, 21 minutes later, at 7:57 PM, while on December 21, the shortest day of the year, it rises at 6:44 AM and sets 9 hours, 58 minutes later, at 4:42 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 August 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 Sylacauga is rapidly decreasing during August, falling from 91% to 78% over the course of the month. For reference, on July 23, the muggiest day of the year, there are muggy conditions 94% of the time, while on January 23, the least muggy day of the year, there are muggy conditions 0% of the time. 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 Sylacauga is essentially constant during August, remaining within 0.2 miles per hour of 3.4 miles per hour throughout. For reference, on February 26, the windiest day of the year, the daily average wind speed is 5.3 miles per hour, while on August 3, the calmest day of the year, the daily average wind speed is 3.2 miles per hour. The lowest daily average wind speed during August is 3.2 miles per hour on August 3. The wind direction in Sylacauga during August is predominantly out of the west from August 1 to August 11 and the east from August 11 to August 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 Sylacauga typically lasts for 8.0 months (247 days), from around March 14 to around November 15, rarely starting before February 16 or after April 6, and rarely ending before October 27 or after December 4. The month of August in Sylacauga 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 Sylacauga are rapidly increasing during August, increasing by 848°F, from 3,238°F to 4,086°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 Sylacauga is gradually decreasing during August, falling by 0.6 kWh, from 6.3 kWh to 5.8 kWh, over the course of the month. TopographyFor the purposes of this report, the geographical coordinates of Sylacauga are 33.173 deg latitude, -86.252 deg longitude, and 541 ft elevation. The topography within 2 miles of Sylacauga contains only modest variations in elevation, with a maximum elevation change of 318 feet and an average elevation above sea level of 573 feet. Within 10 miles contains only modest variations in elevation (1,115 feet). Within 50 miles contains very significant variations in elevation (2,277 feet). The area within 2 miles of Sylacauga is covered by artificial surfaces (48%), trees (42%), and cropland (11%), within 10 miles by trees (73%) and cropland (20%), and within 50 miles by trees (75%) and cropland (13%). Data SourcesThis report illustrates the typical weather in Sylacauga, 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 are 4 weather stations near enough to contribute to our estimation of the temperature and dew point in Sylacauga. For each station, the records are corrected for the elevation difference between that station and Sylacauga according to the International Standard Atmosphere , and by the relative change present in the MERRA-2 satellite-era reanalysis between the two locations. The estimated value at Sylacauga is computed as the weighted average of the individual contributions from each station, with weights proportional to the inverse of the distance between Sylacauga and a given station. The stations contributing to this reconstruction are:
To get a sense of how much these sources agree with each other, you can view a comparison of Sylacauga and the stations that contribute to our estimates of its temperature history and climate. Please note that each source's contribution is adjusted for elevation and the relative change present in the MERRA-2 data. 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. |