August Weather at Thule Air Base GreenlandDaily high temperatures decrease by 7°F, from 46°F to 38°F, rarely falling below 33°F or exceeding 53°F. Daily low temperatures decrease by 7°F, from 38°F to 31°F, rarely falling below 25°F or exceeding 44°F. For reference, on July 18, the hottest day of the year, temperatures at Thule Air Base typically range from 39°F to 46°F, while on February 24, the coldest day of the year, they range from -19°F to -7°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. Kropotkin, Russia (3,108 miles away); Serebryanyy Bor, Russia (3,218 miles); and McMurdo Station, Antarctica (11,628 miles) are the far-away foreign places with temperatures most similar to Thule Air Base (view comparison). CloudsThe month of August at Thule Air Base experiences essentially constant cloud cover, with the percentage of time that the sky is overcast or mostly cloudy remaining about 56% throughout the month. The highest chance of overcast or mostly cloudy conditions is 58% on August 7. The clearest day of the month is August 31, with clear, mostly clear, or partly cloudy conditions 47% of the time. For reference, on February 25, the cloudiest day of the year, the chance of overcast or mostly cloudy conditions is 73%, while on June 2, the clearest day of the year, the chance of clear, mostly clear, or partly cloudy skies is 54%. PrecipitationA wet day is one with at least 0.04 inches of liquid or liquid-equivalent precipitation. At Thule Air Base, the chance of a wet day over the course of August is decreasing, starting the month at 24% and ending it at 19%. For reference, the year's highest daily chance of a wet day is 25% on August 4, and its lowest chance is 1% on March 23. Over the course of August at Thule Air Base, the chance of a day with only rain decreases from 23% to 14%, the chance of a day with mixed snow and rain increases from 1% to 3%, 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 August at Thule Air Base is decreasing, starting the month at 1.8 inches, when it rarely exceeds 3.2 inches or falls below 0.4 inches, and ending the month at 1.1 inches, when it rarely exceeds 2.4 inches or falls below 0.1 inches. The highest average 31-day accumulation is 1.8 inches on August 1. 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 August at Thule Air Base is increasing, starting the month at 0.2 inches, when it rarely exceeds 0.6 inches or falls below -0.0 inches, and ending the month at 1.8 inches, when it rarely exceeds 5.7 inches. SunDue to its extreme latitude, Thule Air Base 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 summer at Thule Air Base during 2024, the Sun is continuously above the horizon for 3.9 months, rising at 2:19 AM on April 22, and not setting again until 1:29 AM on August 19. As such, August begins the month in polar day, which ends before the month is out. The shortest day of the month is August 31, with 17 hours, 37 minutes of daylight. The earliest sunrise of the month at Thule Air Base is 1:49 AM on August 19 and the latest sunrise is 2 hours, 54 minutes later at 4:43 AM on August 31. The latest sunset is 1:29 AM on August 18 and the earliest sunset is 3 hours, 9 minutes earlier at 10:20 PM on August 31. Daylight saving time is observed at Thule Air Base during 2024, but it neither starts nor ends during August, so the entire month is in standard time. 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 at Thule Air Base is essentially constant during August, 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 at Thule Air Base is essentially constant during August, remaining within 0.3 miles per hour of 10.4 miles per hour throughout. For reference, on August 3, the windiest day of the year, the daily average wind speed is 10.7 miles per hour, while on April 16, the calmest day of the year, the daily average wind speed is 8.6 miles per hour. The highest daily average wind speed during August is 10.7 miles per hour on August 3. The hourly average wind direction at Thule Air Base throughout August is predominantly from the east, with a peak proportion of 67% on August 1. Water TemperatureThule Air Base 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 at Thule Air Base is essentially constant during August, remaining within 1°F of 36°F throughout. The highest average surface water temperature during August is 36°F on August 9. 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 at Thule Air Base typically lasts for 1.5 months (44 days), from around June 30 to around August 14, rarely starting before June 12, or ending after September 2. During August at Thule Air Base, the chance that a given day is within the growing season is very rapidly decreasing falling from 71% to 14% over the course of the month. 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 at Thule Air Base are essentially constant during August, remaining within 1°F of 9°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 at Thule Air Base is very rapidly decreasing during August, falling by 2.2 kWh, from 4.7 kWh to 2.5 kWh, over the course of the month. TopographyFor the purposes of this report, the geographical coordinates of Thule Air Base are 76.531 deg latitude, -68.702 deg longitude, and 253 ft elevation. The topography within 2 miles of Thule Air Base contains significant variations in elevation, with a maximum elevation change of 725 feet and an average elevation above sea level of 396 feet. Within 10 miles contains significant variations in elevation (2,657 feet). Within 50 miles contains large variations in elevation (4,446 feet). The area within 2 miles of Thule Air Base is covered by sparse vegetation (99%), within 10 miles by sparse vegetation (50%) and water (36%), and within 50 miles by snow and glaciers (49%) and water (40%). Data SourcesThis report illustrates the typical weather at Thule Air Base, based on a statistical analysis of historical hourly weather reports and model reconstructions from January 1, 1980 to December 31, 2016. Temperature and Dew PointThule Air Base has a weather station that reported reliably enough during the analysis period that we have included it in our network. When available, historical temperature and dew point measurements are taken directly from this weather station. These records are obtained from NOAA's Integrated Surface Hourly data set, falling back on ICAO METAR records as required. There are no other weather stations in our network within 200 kilometers of this location. Consequently, in the case of missing or erroneous measurements from this station, we fall back on NASA's MERRA-2 modern-era reanalysis , adjusted according to typical seasonal and diurnal differences between this station and the wide-area MERRA-2 reconstructed values.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. |