March Weather at Svalbard Airport, Longyear Svalbard & Jan MayenDaily high temperatures are around 15°F, rarely falling below -4°F or exceeding 34°F. Daily low temperatures are around 4°F, rarely falling below -16°F or exceeding 25°F. For reference, on July 21, the hottest day of the year, temperatures at Svalbard Airport, Longyear typically range from 42°F to 48°F, while on February 18, the coldest day of the year, they range from 4°F to 15°F. The figure below shows you a compact characterization of the hourly average temperatures for the quarter of the year centered on March. 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. Big Sky, United States (3,626 miles away); Sŭngjibaegam, North Korea (3,750 miles); and Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky, Russia (3,238 miles) are the far-away foreign places with temperatures most similar to Svalbard Airport, Longyear (view comparison). CloudsThe month of March at Svalbard Airport, Longyear experiences gradually decreasing cloud cover, with the percentage of time that the sky is overcast or mostly cloudy decreasing from 91% to 84%. The clearest day of the month is March 31, with clear, mostly clear, or partly cloudy conditions 16% of the time. For reference, on January 20, the cloudiest day of the year, the chance of overcast or mostly cloudy conditions is 92%, while on May 27, the clearest day of the year, the chance of clear, mostly clear, or partly cloudy skies is 41%. PrecipitationA wet day is one with at least 0.04 inches of liquid or liquid-equivalent precipitation. At Svalbard Airport, Longyear, the chance of a wet day over the course of March is decreasing, starting the month at 23% and ending it at 17%. For reference, the year's highest daily chance of a wet day is 27% on September 24, and its lowest chance is 9% on May 28. Over the course of March at Svalbard Airport, Longyear, the chance of a day with only rain remains an essentially constant 2% throughout, the chance of a day with mixed snow and rain decreases from 5% to 3%, and the chance of a day with only snow remains an essentially constant 14% 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 March at Svalbard Airport, Longyear is essentially constant, remaining about 0.3 inches throughout, and rarely exceeding 1.0 inches or falling below -0.0 inches. 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 March at Svalbard Airport, Longyear is decreasing, starting the month at 9.1 inches, when it rarely exceeds 17.2 inches or falls below 2.4 inches, and ending the month at 8.0 inches, when it rarely exceeds 14.6 inches or falls below 1.8 inches. The highest average 31-day accumulation is 9.3 inches on March 7. SunDue to its extreme latitude, Svalbard Airport, Longyear 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. Neither polar day nor polar night occur during the month of March. Over the course of March at Svalbard Airport, Longyear, the length of the day is very rapidly increasing. From the start to the end of the month, the length of the day increases by 7 hours, 55 minutes, implying an average daily increase of 15 minutes, 50 seconds, and weekly increase of 1 hour, 50 minutes, 48 seconds. The shortest day of the month is March 1, with 7 hours, 36 minutes of daylight and the longest day is March 31, with 15 hours, 31 minutes of daylight. The latest sunrise of the month at Svalbard Airport, Longyear is 8:23 AM on March 1 and the earliest sunrise is 3 hours, 56 minutes earlier at 4:27 AM on March 30. The earliest sunset is 3:59 PM on March 1 and the latest sunset is 4 hours, 51 minutes later at 8:50 PM on March 31. Daylight saving time (DST) ends at 3:00 AM on March 31, 2024, shifting sunrise and sunset to be an hour earlier. 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 March 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 Svalbard Airport, Longyear is essentially constant during March, 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 Svalbard Airport, Longyear is decreasing during March, decreasing from 12.6 miles per hour to 11.3 miles per hour over the course of the month. For reference, on January 2, the windiest day of the year, the daily average wind speed is 13.5 miles per hour, while on June 20, the calmest day of the year, the daily average wind speed is 7.5 miles per hour. The hourly average wind direction at Svalbard Airport, Longyear throughout March is predominantly from the east, with a peak proportion of 49% on March 17. Water TemperatureSvalbard Airport, Longyear 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 Svalbard Airport, Longyear is essentially constant during March, remaining around 32°F throughout. 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 Svalbard Airport, Longyear typically lasts for 3.0 months (92 days), from around June 7 to around September 7, rarely starting before May 22 or after June 24, and rarely ending before August 18 or after September 24. The month of March at Svalbard Airport, Longyear 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 Svalbard Airport, Longyear are essentially constant during March, remaining around 0°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 Svalbard Airport, Longyear is increasing during March, rising by 1.3 kWh, from 0.2 kWh to 1.4 kWh, over the course of the month. TopographyFor the purposes of this report, the geographical coordinates of Svalbard Airport, Longyear are 78.246 deg latitude, 15.466 deg longitude, and 92 ft elevation. The topography within 2 miles of Svalbard Airport, Longyear contains very significant variations in elevation, with a maximum elevation change of 1,552 feet and an average elevation above sea level of 355 feet. Within 10 miles contains very significant variations in elevation (3,438 feet). Within 50 miles also contains extreme variations in elevation (4,117 feet). The area within 2 miles of Svalbard Airport, Longyear is covered by water (78%) and sparse vegetation (13%), within 10 miles by water (49%) and snow and glaciers (35%), and within 50 miles by snow and glaciers (60%) and water (28%). Data SourcesThis report illustrates the typical weather at Svalbard Airport, Longyear, based on a statistical analysis of historical hourly weather reports and model reconstructions from January 1, 1980 to December 31, 2016. Temperature and Dew PointSvalbard Airport, Longyear 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. |