March Weather in Upernavik GreenlandDaily high temperatures increase by 8°F, from -1°F to 6°F, rarely falling below -17°F or exceeding 21°F. Daily low temperatures increase by 7°F, from -9°F to -3°F, rarely falling below -23°F or exceeding 10°F. For reference, on July 23, the hottest day of the year, temperatures in Upernavik typically range from 42°F to 47°F, while on February 28, the coldest day of the year, they range from -10°F to -2°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. Uptar, Russia (3,184 miles away) is the far-away foreign place with temperatures most similar to Upernavik (view comparison). CloudsThe month of March in Upernavik experiences essentially constant cloud cover, with the percentage of time that the sky is overcast or mostly cloudy remaining about 75% throughout the month. The clearest day of the month is March 27, with clear, mostly clear, or partly cloudy conditions 27% of the time. For reference, on January 1, the cloudiest day of the year, the chance of overcast or mostly cloudy conditions is 81%, while on June 1, the clearest day of the year, the chance of clear, mostly clear, or partly cloudy skies is 49%. PrecipitationA wet day is one with at least 0.04 inches of liquid or liquid-equivalent precipitation. In Upernavik, the chance of a wet day over the course of March is essentially constant, remaining around 5% throughout. For reference, the year's highest daily chance of a wet day is 24% on August 6, and its lowest chance is 4% on February 13. 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 in Upernavik is essentially constant, remaining about 2.8 inches throughout, and rarely exceeding 7.7 inches or falling below -0.0 inches. SunDue to its extreme latitude, Upernavik 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 in Upernavik, 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 5 hours, 10 minutes, implying an average daily increase of 10 minutes, 21 seconds, and weekly increase of 1 hour, 12 minutes, 25 seconds. The shortest day of the month is March 1, with 9 hours, 11 minutes of daylight and the longest day is March 31, with 14 hours, 22 minutes of daylight. The latest sunrise of the month in Upernavik is 9:22 AM on March 1 and the earliest sunrise is 2 hours, 37 minutes earlier at 6:44 AM on March 30. The earliest sunset is 6:33 PM on March 1 and the latest sunset is 3 hours, 28 minutes later at 10:00 PM on March 31. Daylight saving time (DST) ends at 12:00 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 in Upernavik 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 in Upernavik is gradually decreasing during March, decreasing from 8.1 miles per hour to 7.6 miles per hour over the course of the month. For reference, on November 9, the windiest day of the year, the daily average wind speed is 11.4 miles per hour, while on July 12, the calmest day of the year, the daily average wind speed is 6.7 miles per hour. The hourly average wind direction in Upernavik throughout March is predominantly from the north, with a peak proportion of 41% on March 31. Water TemperatureUpernavik 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 in Upernavik is essentially constant during March, remaining around 29°F throughout. The lowest average surface water temperature during March is 29°F on March 23. 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 Upernavik typically lasts for 2.7 months (81 days), from around June 18 to around September 8, rarely starting before May 29 or after July 17, and rarely ending before August 13 or after September 27. The month of March in Upernavik 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 in Upernavik 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 in Upernavik is rapidly increasing during March, rising by 1.7 kWh, from 0.6 kWh to 2.2 kWh, over the course of the month. TopographyFor the purposes of this report, the geographical coordinates of Upernavik are 72.787 deg latitude, -56.155 deg longitude, and 3 ft elevation. The topography within 2 miles of Upernavik contains significant variations in elevation, with a maximum elevation change of 659 feet and an average elevation above sea level of 49 feet. Within 10 miles contains significant variations in elevation (3,356 feet). Within 50 miles also contains extreme variations in elevation (3,816 feet). The area within 2 miles of Upernavik is covered by water (87%), within 10 miles by water (73%) and sparse vegetation (13%), and within 50 miles by water (64%) and snow and glaciers (18%). Data SourcesThis report illustrates the typical weather in Upernavik, 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 is only a single weather station, Upernavik Airport, in our network suitable to be used as a proxy for the historical temperature and dew point records of Upernavik. At a distance of 2 kilometer from Upernavik, closer than our threshold of 150 kilometers, this station is deemed sufficiently nearby to be relied upon as our primary source for temperature and dew point records. The station records are corrected for the elevation difference between the station and Upernavik according to the International Standard Atmosphere , and by the relative change present in the MERRA-2 satellite-era reanalysis between the two locations. Please note that the station records themselves may additionally have been back-filled using other nearby stations or the MERRA-2 reanalysis. 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. |