March Weather in Arafat MauritaniaDaily high temperatures increase by 2°F, from 87°F to 89°F, rarely falling below 76°F or exceeding 101°F. Daily low temperatures increase by 3°F, from 63°F to 66°F, rarely falling below 58°F or exceeding 72°F. For reference, on October 13, the hottest day of the year, temperatures in Arafat typically range from 76°F to 96°F, while on January 12, the coldest day of the year, they range from 60°F to 83°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. Villa Juárez, Mexico (5,735 miles away) is the far-away foreign place with temperatures most similar to Arafat (view comparison). CloudsThe month of March in Arafat experiences essentially constant cloud cover, with the percentage of time that the sky is overcast or mostly cloudy remaining about 29% throughout the month. The clearest day of the month is March 25, with clear, mostly clear, or partly cloudy conditions 72% of the time. For reference, on September 15, the cloudiest day of the year, the chance of overcast or mostly cloudy conditions is 56%, while on June 11, the clearest day of the year, the chance of clear, mostly clear, or partly cloudy skies is 83%. PrecipitationSunOver the course of March in Arafat, the length of the day is increasing. From the start to the end of the month, the length of the day increases by 31 minutes, implying an average daily increase of 1 minute, 1 second, and weekly increase of 7 minutes, 9 seconds. The shortest day of the month is March 1, with 11 hours, 48 minutes of daylight and the longest day is March 31, with 12 hours, 19 minutes of daylight. The latest sunrise of the month in Arafat is 7:22 AM on March 1 and the earliest sunrise is 24 minutes earlier at 6:58 AM on March 31. The earliest sunset is 7:10 PM on March 1 and the latest sunset is 7 minutes later at 7:17 PM on March 31. Daylight saving time is not observed in Arafat during 2024. For reference, on June 20, the longest day of the year, the Sun rises at 6:29 AM and sets 13 hours, 13 minutes later, at 7:42 PM, while on December 21, the shortest day of the year, it rises at 7:30 AM and sets 11 hours, 3 minutes later, at 6:33 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 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 Arafat is gradually increasing during March, rising from 2% to 6% over the course of the month. For reference, on August 4, the muggiest day of the year, there are muggy conditions 97% of the time, while on January 24, 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 in Arafat is essentially constant during March, remaining within 0.3 miles per hour of 11.8 miles per hour throughout. For reference, on May 13, the windiest day of the year, the daily average wind speed is 13.2 miles per hour, while on September 15, the calmest day of the year, the daily average wind speed is 9.2 miles per hour. The hourly average wind direction in Arafat throughout March is predominantly from the north, with a peak proportion of 81% on March 31. Water TemperatureArafat 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 Arafat is essentially constant during March, remaining around 65°F throughout. The highest average surface water temperature during March is 65°F on March 22. 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). Temperatures in Arafat are sufficiently warm year round that it is not entirely meaningful to discuss the growing season in these terms. We nevertheless include the chart below as an illustration of the distribution of temperatures experienced throughout the year. 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 Arafat are rapidly increasing during March, increasing by 698°F, from 1,282°F to 1,980°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 in Arafat is gradually increasing during March, rising by 0.8 kWh, from 6.4 kWh to 7.1 kWh, over the course of the month. TopographyFor the purposes of this report, the geographical coordinates of Arafat are 18.046 deg latitude, -15.972 deg longitude, and 10 ft elevation. The topography within 2 miles of Arafat is essentially flat, with a maximum elevation change of 79 feet and an average elevation above sea level of 12 feet. Within 10 miles is essentially flat (151 feet). Within 50 miles also contains only modest variations in elevation (318 feet). The area within 2 miles of Arafat is covered by bare soil (97%), within 10 miles by bare soil (68%) and water (28%), and within 50 miles by bare soil (43%) and water (42%). Data SourcesThis report illustrates the typical weather in Arafat, 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, Nouakchott Airport, in our network suitable to be used as a proxy for the historical temperature and dew point records of Arafat. At a distance of 6 kilometers from Arafat, 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 Arafat 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. |