December Weather in Qasţal Ma‘āf SyriaDaily high temperatures decrease by 6°F, from 61°F to 54°F, rarely falling below 48°F or exceeding 67°F. Daily low temperatures decrease by 4°F, from 45°F to 41°F, rarely falling below 34°F or exceeding 52°F. For reference, on August 9, the hottest day of the year, temperatures in Qasţal Ma‘āf typically range from 72°F to 85°F, while on January 22, the coldest day of the year, they range from 41°F to 54°F. The figure below shows you a compact characterization of the hourly average temperatures for the quarter of the year centered on December. 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. Newport, United States (5,925 miles away) and Tsuma, Japan (5,241 miles) are the far-away foreign places with temperatures most similar to Qasţal Ma‘āf (view comparison). CloudsThe month of December in Qasţal Ma‘āf experiences essentially constant cloud cover, with the percentage of time that the sky is overcast or mostly cloudy remaining about 39% throughout the month. The clearest day of the month is December 1, with clear, mostly clear, or partly cloudy conditions 63% of the time. For reference, on January 16, the cloudiest day of the year, the chance of overcast or mostly cloudy conditions is 41%, while on August 1, the clearest day of the year, the chance of clear, mostly clear, or partly cloudy skies is 100%. PrecipitationA wet day is one with at least 0.04 inches of liquid or liquid-equivalent precipitation. In Qasţal Ma‘āf, the chance of a wet day over the course of December is increasing, starting the month at 26% and ending it at 31%. For reference, the year's highest daily chance of a wet day is 35% on January 16, and its lowest chance is 1% on July 27. 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 December in Qasţal Ma‘āf is increasing, starting the month at 3.1 inches, when it rarely exceeds 5.8 inches or falls below 0.7 inches, and ending the month at 3.7 inches, when it rarely exceeds 6.9 inches or falls below 1.1 inches. SunOver the course of December in Qasţal Ma‘āf, the length of the day is essentially constant. The shortest day of the month is December 21, with 9 hours, 44 minutes of daylight and the longest day is December 1, with 9 hours, 54 minutes of daylight. The earliest sunrise of the month in Qasţal Ma‘āf is 7:28 AM on December 1 and the latest sunrise is 18 minutes later at 7:46 AM on December 31. The earliest sunset is 5:22 PM on December 5 and the latest sunset is 10 minutes later at 5:32 PM on December 31. Daylight saving time is not observed in Qasţal Ma‘āf during 2024. For reference, on June 20, the longest day of the year, the Sun rises at 5:20 AM and sets 14 hours, 35 minutes later, at 7:55 PM, while on December 21, the shortest day of the year, it rises at 7:42 AM and sets 9 hours, 44 minutes later, at 5:26 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 December 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 Qasţal Ma‘āf is essentially constant during December, remaining around 0% throughout. The lowest chance of a muggy day during December is 0% on December 6. For reference, on August 2, the muggiest day of the year, there are muggy conditions 89% of the time, while on December 3, 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 Qasţal Ma‘āf is gradually increasing during December, increasing from 9.0 miles per hour to 9.7 miles per hour over the course of the month. For reference, on February 5, the windiest day of the year, the daily average wind speed is 9.7 miles per hour, while on October 13, the calmest day of the year, the daily average wind speed is 6.8 miles per hour. The hourly average wind direction in Qasţal Ma‘āf throughout December is predominantly from the east, with a peak proportion of 55% on December 8. Water TemperatureQasţal Ma‘āf 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 Qasţal Ma‘āf is decreasing during December, falling by 4°F, from 70°F to 66°F, over the course of the month. 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 Qasţal Ma‘āf typically lasts for 11 months (348 days), from around January 21 to around January 3, rarely starting after February 24, or ending before December 4. The month of December in Qasţal Ma‘āf is more likely than not fully outside of the growing season, with the chance that a given day is in the growing season rapidly decreasing from 92% to 54% over the course of the month. 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 Qasţal Ma‘āf are gradually increasing during December, increasing by 76°F, from 4,939°F to 5,015°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 Qasţal Ma‘āf is essentially constant during December, remaining within 0.2 kWh of 2.5 kWh throughout. The lowest average daily incident shortwave solar energy during December is 2.3 kWh on December 23. TopographyFor the purposes of this report, the geographical coordinates of Qasţal Ma‘āf are 35.824 deg latitude, 35.952 deg longitude, and 1,486 ft elevation. The topography within 2 miles of Qasţal Ma‘āf contains large variations in elevation, with a maximum elevation change of 2,024 feet and an average elevation above sea level of 1,342 feet. Within 10 miles contains large variations in elevation (5,640 feet). Within 50 miles also contains extreme variations in elevation (5,935 feet). The area within 2 miles of Qasţal Ma‘āf is covered by trees (96%), within 10 miles by trees (53%) and water (21%), and within 50 miles by water (46%) and cropland (34%). Data SourcesThis report illustrates the typical weather in Qasţal Ma‘āf, 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 are 3 weather stations near enough to contribute to our estimation of the temperature and dew point in Qasţal Ma‘āf. For each station, the records are corrected for the elevation difference between that station and Qasţal Ma‘āf according to the International Standard Atmosphere , and by the relative change present in the MERRA-2 satellite-era reanalysis between the two locations. The estimated value at Qasţal Ma‘āf is computed as the weighted average of the individual contributions from each station, with weights proportional to the inverse of the distance between Qasţal Ma‘āf and a given station. The stations contributing to this reconstruction are:
To get a sense of how much these sources agree with each other, you can view a comparison of Qasţal Ma‘āf and the stations that contribute to our estimates of its temperature history and climate. Please note that each source's contribution is adjusted for elevation and the relative change present in the MERRA-2 data. 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. |