August Weather at Narsarsuaq Airport GreenlandDaily high temperatures decrease by 6°F, from 57°F to 51°F, rarely falling below 45°F or exceeding 64°F. Daily low temperatures decrease by 4°F, from 45°F to 41°F, rarely falling below 36°F or exceeding 49°F. For reference, on July 17, the hottest day of the year, temperatures at Narsarsuaq Airport typically range from 45°F to 58°F, while on January 26, the coldest day of the year, they range from 13°F to 25°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. Fritz Creek, United States (3,207 miles away) is the far-away foreign place with temperatures most similar to Narsarsuaq Airport (view comparison). CloudsThe month of August at Narsarsuaq Airport experiences essentially constant cloud cover, with the percentage of time that the sky is overcast or mostly cloudy remaining about 54% throughout the month. The clearest day of the month is August 12, with clear, mostly clear, or partly cloudy conditions 47% of the time. For reference, on February 3, the cloudiest day of the year, the chance of overcast or mostly cloudy conditions is 66%, while on October 13, the clearest day of the year, the chance of clear, mostly clear, or partly cloudy skies is 50%. PrecipitationA wet day is one with at least 0.04 inches of liquid or liquid-equivalent precipitation. At Narsarsuaq Airport, the chance of a wet day over the course of August is essentially constant, remaining around 32% throughout. For reference, the year's highest daily chance of a wet day is 37% on September 9, and its lowest chance is 23% on March 21. 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 Narsarsuaq Airport is increasing, starting the month at 3.8 inches, when it rarely exceeds 7.0 inches or falls below 1.3 inches, and ending the month at 4.6 inches, when it rarely exceeds 8.4 inches or falls below 1.2 inches. SunOver the course of August at Narsarsuaq Airport, the length of the day is very rapidly decreasing. From the start to the end of the month, the length of the day decreases by 2 hours, 46 minutes, implying an average daily decrease of 5 minutes, 31 seconds, and weekly decrease of 38 minutes, 38 seconds. The shortest day of the month is August 31, with 14 hours, 17 minutes of daylight and the longest day is August 1, with 17 hours, 3 minutes of daylight. The earliest sunrise of the month at Narsarsuaq Airport is 5:35 AM on August 1 and the latest sunrise is 1 hour, 17 minutes later at 6:52 AM on August 31. The latest sunset is 10:38 PM on August 1 and the earliest sunset is 1 hour, 29 minutes earlier at 9:09 PM on August 31. Daylight saving time is observed at Narsarsuaq Airport 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 4:22 AM and sets 19 hours, 21 minutes later, at 11:43 PM, while on December 21, the shortest day of the year, it rises at 10:15 AM and sets 5 hours, 28 minutes later, at 3:44 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 at Narsarsuaq Airport 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 Narsarsuaq Airport is increasing during August, increasing from 6.4 miles per hour to 7.7 miles per hour over the course of the month. For reference, on January 14, the windiest day of the year, the daily average wind speed is 14.9 miles per hour, while on July 25, the calmest day of the year, the daily average wind speed is 6.3 miles per hour. The hourly average wind direction at Narsarsuaq Airport throughout August is predominantly from the east, with a peak proportion of 51% on August 31. Water TemperatureNarsarsuaq Airport 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 Narsarsuaq Airport is essentially constant during August, remaining around 39°F throughout. The highest average surface water temperature during August is 40°F on August 14. 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 Narsarsuaq Airport typically lasts for 3.9 months (119 days), from around May 20 to around September 16, rarely starting before May 3 or after June 8, and rarely ending before September 1 or after October 3. The month of August at Narsarsuaq Airport is very likely fully within the growing season, with the chance that a given day is in the growing season reaching a high of 100% on August 13. 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 Narsarsuaq Airport are gradually increasing during August, increasing by 54°F, from 182°F to 236°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 at Narsarsuaq Airport is rapidly decreasing during August, falling by 1.5 kWh, from 5.4 kWh to 3.9 kWh, over the course of the month. TopographyFor the purposes of this report, the geographical coordinates of Narsarsuaq Airport are 61.161 deg latitude, -45.426 deg longitude, and 180 ft elevation. The topography within 2 miles of Narsarsuaq Airport contains large variations in elevation, with a maximum elevation change of 1,969 feet and an average elevation above sea level of 446 feet. Within 10 miles contains large variations in elevation (5,758 feet). Within 50 miles also contains extreme variations in elevation (8,271 feet). The area within 2 miles of Narsarsuaq Airport is covered by sparse vegetation (45%), water (23%), trees (19%), and grassland (12%), within 10 miles by sparse vegetation (31%) and snow and glaciers (21%), and within 50 miles by snow and glaciers (66%) and sparse vegetation (15%). Data SourcesThis report illustrates the typical weather at Narsarsuaq Airport, based on a statistical analysis of historical hourly weather reports and model reconstructions from January 1, 1980 to December 31, 2016. Temperature and Dew PointNarsarsuaq Airport 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. In the case of missing or erroneous measurements from this station, we fall back on records from nearby stations, adjusted according to typical seasonal and diurnal intra-station differences. For a given day of the year and hour of the day, the fallback station is selected to minimize the prediction error over the years for which there are measurements for both stations. The stations on which we may fall back are Julianehaab and Prins Christian Sund. 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. 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