February Weather at Elsenborn-Butgenbach Air Base BelgiumDaily high temperatures increase by 3°F, from 37°F to 40°F, rarely falling below 26°F or exceeding 51°F. Daily low temperatures are around 27°F, rarely falling below 13°F or exceeding 37°F. The lowest daily average low temperature is 26°F on February 10. For reference, on August 3, the hottest day of the year, temperatures at Elsenborn-Butgenbach Air Base typically range from 49°F to 69°F, while on February 10, the coldest day of the year, they range from 26°F to 37°F. The figure below shows you a compact characterization of the hourly average temperatures for the quarter of the year centered on February. 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. Wrangell, Alaska, United States (4,682 miles away) is the far-away foreign place with temperatures most similar to Elsenborn-Butgenbach Air Base (view comparison). CloudsThe month of February at Elsenborn-Butgenbach Air Base experiences gradually decreasing cloud cover, with the percentage of time that the sky is overcast or mostly cloudy decreasing from 71% to 67%. The clearest day of the month is February 27, with clear, mostly clear, or partly cloudy conditions 33% of the time. For reference, on December 25, the cloudiest day of the year, the chance of overcast or mostly cloudy conditions is 80%, while on July 21, 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 Elsenborn-Butgenbach Air Base, the chance of a wet day over the course of February is gradually decreasing, starting the month at 32% and ending it at 28%. For reference, the year's highest daily chance of a wet day is 38% on June 11, and its lowest chance is 28% on April 15. Over the course of February at Elsenborn-Butgenbach Air Base, the chance of a day with only rain remains an essentially constant 17% throughout, the chance of a day with mixed snow and rain decreases from 9% to 7%, and the chance of a day with only snow remains an essentially constant 5% 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 February at Elsenborn-Butgenbach Air Base is essentially constant, remaining about 1.6 inches throughout, and rarely exceeding 3.3 inches or falling below 0.3 inches. The lowest average 31-day accumulation is 1.6 inches on February 22. 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 February at Elsenborn-Butgenbach Air Base is decreasing, starting the month at 5.3 inches, when it rarely exceeds 11.1 inches or falls below 0.5 inches, and ending the month at 4.2 inches, when it rarely exceeds 9.0 inches. The highest average 31-day accumulation is 5.4 inches on February 8. SunOver the course of February at Elsenborn-Butgenbach Air Base, 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, 40 minutes, implying an average daily increase of 3 minutes, 33 seconds, and weekly increase of 24 minutes, 53 seconds. The shortest day of the month is February 1, with 9 hours, 16 minutes of daylight and the longest day is February 29, with 10 hours, 55 minutes of daylight. The latest sunrise of the month at Elsenborn-Butgenbach Air Base is 8:11 AM on February 1 and the earliest sunrise is 51 minutes earlier at 7:20 AM on February 29. The earliest sunset is 5:27 PM on February 1 and the latest sunset is 49 minutes later at 6:15 PM on February 29. Daylight saving time is observed at Elsenborn-Butgenbach Air Base during 2024, but it neither starts nor ends during February, so the entire month is in daylight saving time. For reference, on June 20, the longest day of the year, the Sun rises at 5:23 AM and sets 16 hours, 27 minutes later, at 9:50 PM, while on December 21, the shortest day of the year, it rises at 8:33 AM and sets 8 hours, 0 minutes later, at 4:33 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 February 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 Elsenborn-Butgenbach Air Base is essentially constant during February, remaining around 0% throughout. For reference, on July 12, the muggiest day of the year, there are muggy conditions 0% of the time, while on January 1, 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 at Elsenborn-Butgenbach Air Base is decreasing during February, decreasing from 13.1 miles per hour to 11.9 miles per hour over the course of the month. For reference, on January 7, the windiest day of the year, the daily average wind speed is 13.7 miles per hour, while on August 4, the calmest day of the year, the daily average wind speed is 8.5 miles per hour. The hourly average wind direction at Elsenborn-Butgenbach Air Base throughout February is predominantly from the west, with a peak proportion of 38% on February 1. 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 Elsenborn-Butgenbach Air Base typically lasts for 4.6 months (139 days), from around May 17 to around October 3, rarely starting before April 22 or after June 9, and rarely ending before September 3 or after November 2. The month of February at Elsenborn-Butgenbach Air Base 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 at Elsenborn-Butgenbach Air Base are essentially constant during February, remaining within 1°F of 1°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 Elsenborn-Butgenbach Air Base is increasing during February, rising by 1.0 kWh, from 1.2 kWh to 2.3 kWh, over the course of the month. TopographyFor the purposes of this report, the geographical coordinates of Elsenborn-Butgenbach Air Base are 50.485 deg latitude, 6.182 deg longitude, and 1,831 ft elevation. The topography within 2 miles of Elsenborn-Butgenbach Air Base contains only modest variations in elevation, with a maximum elevation change of 440 feet and an average elevation above sea level of 1,876 feet. Within 10 miles contains only modest variations in elevation (1,299 feet). Within 50 miles contains very significant variations in elevation (3,097 feet). The area within 2 miles of Elsenborn-Butgenbach Air Base is covered by trees (42%), shrubs (27%), grassland (17%), and herbaceous vegetation (10%), within 10 miles by trees (53%) and grassland (30%), and within 50 miles by cropland (37%) and trees (33%). Data SourcesThis report illustrates the typical weather at Elsenborn-Butgenbach 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 PointElsenborn-Butgenbach 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. 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 include but are not limited to Spa-La Sauvenière Airport, NATO Air Base Geilenkirchen, Nörvenich Air Base, Maastricht Aachen Airport, Spangdahlem Air Base, RAF Bruggen, Liege, and Liège Airport. 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. |