Winter Weather in Taohuashan ChinaDaily high temperatures are around 49°F, rarely falling below 35°F or exceeding 64°F. The lowest daily average high temperature is 45°F on January 19. Daily low temperatures are around 37°F, rarely falling below 27°F or exceeding 49°F. The lowest daily average low temperature is 33°F on January 19. For reference, on July 24, the hottest day of the year, temperatures in Taohuashan typically range from 79°F to 92°F, while on January 19, the coldest day of the year, they range from 33°F to 45°F. The figure below shows you a compact characterization of the hourly average winter temperatures. 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. Memphis, United States (7,729 miles away) and Tehran, Iran (3,534 miles) are the far-away foreign places with temperatures most similar to Taohuashan (view comparison). CloudsThe winter in Taohuashan experiences rapidly increasing cloud cover, with the percentage of time that the sky is overcast or mostly cloudy increasing from 29% to 43%. The lowest chance of overcast or mostly cloudy conditions is 28% on December 12. The clearest day of the winter is December 12, with clear, mostly clear, or partly cloudy conditions 72% of the time. For reference, on July 5, the cloudiest day of the year, the chance of overcast or mostly cloudy conditions is 71%, while on December 12, the clearest day of the year, the chance of clear, mostly clear, or partly cloudy skies is 72%. PrecipitationA wet day is one with at least 0.04 inches of liquid or liquid-equivalent precipitation. In Taohuashan, the chance of a wet day over the course of the winter is very rapidly increasing, starting the season at 15% and ending it at 29%. For reference, the year's highest daily chance of a wet day is 40% on June 21, and its lowest chance is 11% on December 17. Over the course of the winter in Taohuashan, the chance of a day with only rain increases from 14% to 27%, the chance of a day with mixed snow and rain remains an essentially constant 2% throughout, and the chance of a day with only snow remains an essentially constant 1% throughout. RainfallTo show variation within the season and not just the monthly totals, we show the rainfall accumulated over a sliding 31-day period centered around each day. The average sliding 31-day rainfall during the winter in Taohuashan is rapidly increasing, starting the season at 1.3 inches, when it rarely exceeds 3.0 inches or falls below 0.1 inches, and ending the season at 2.7 inches, when it rarely exceeds 4.7 inches or falls below 0.8 inches. The lowest average 31-day accumulation is 0.9 inches on December 23. 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 the winter in Taohuashan is gradually increasing, starting the season at 0.1 inches, when it rarely exceeds 0.5 inches, and ending the season at 0.8 inches, when it rarely exceeds 2.5 inches. The highest average 31-day accumulation is 1.5 inches on January 22. SunOver the course of the winter in Taohuashan, the length of the day is rapidly increasing. From the start to the end of the season, the length of the day increases by 1 hour, 9 minutes, implying an average daily increase of 46 seconds, and weekly increase of 5 minutes, 24 seconds. The shortest day of the winter is December 21, with 10 hours, 15 minutes of daylight and the longest day is February 28, with 11 hours, 32 minutes of daylight. The latest sunrise of the winter in Taohuashan is 7:25 AM on January 11 and the earliest sunrise is 29 minutes earlier at 6:56 AM on February 28. The earliest sunset is 5:29 PM on December 2 and the latest sunset is 58 minutes later at 6:27 PM on February 28. Daylight saving time is not observed in Taohuashan during 2024. For reference, on June 20, the longest day of the year, the Sun rises at 5:29 AM and sets 14 hours, 3 minutes later, at 7:32 PM, while on December 21, the shortest day of the year, it rises at 7:20 AM and sets 10 hours, 15 minutes later, at 5:34 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 the winter of 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 Taohuashan is essentially constant during the winter, remaining around 0% throughout. The lowest chance of a muggy day during the winter is 0% on December 21. For reference, on July 22, the muggiest day of the year, there are muggy conditions 100% of the time, while on December 11, 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 Taohuashan is gradually increasing during the winter, increasing from 7.4 miles per hour to 8.1 miles per hour over the course of the season. For reference, on April 30, the windiest day of the year, the daily average wind speed is 8.4 miles per hour, while on October 21, the calmest day of the year, the daily average wind speed is 6.9 miles per hour. The hourly average wind direction in Taohuashan throughout the winter is predominantly from the north, with a peak proportion of 59% on December 24. 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 Taohuashan typically lasts for 9.6 months (291 days), from around February 21 to around December 8, rarely starting before January 31 or after March 14, and rarely ending before November 18 or after December 27. The smallest chance that a given day will be within the growing season in Taohuashan during the winter is -0% on January 13. 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 Taohuashan are very rapidly decreasing during the winter, decreasing by 5,375°F, from 5,418°F to 43°F, over the course of the season. 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 Taohuashan is gradually increasing during the winter, rising by 0.7 kWh, from 3.0 kWh to 3.7 kWh, over the course of the season. The lowest average daily incident shortwave solar energy during the winter is 2.9 kWh on December 24. TopographyFor the purposes of this report, the geographical coordinates of Taohuashan are 29.655 deg latitude, 112.688 deg longitude, and 105 ft elevation. The topography within 2 miles of Taohuashan contains very significant variations in elevation, with a maximum elevation change of 948 feet and an average elevation above sea level of 251 feet. Within 10 miles also contains very significant variations in elevation (1,204 feet). Within 50 miles also contains very significant variations in elevation (1,919 feet). The area within 2 miles of Taohuashan is covered by cropland (42%), trees (35%), and water (11%), within 10 miles by cropland (49%) and trees (23%), and within 50 miles by cropland (52%) and water (23%). Data SourcesThis report illustrates the typical weather in Taohuashan, 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, Changsha Datuopu Air Force Base, in our network suitable to be used as a proxy for the historical temperature and dew point records of Taohuashan. At a distance of 166 kilometers from Taohuashan, further than our threshold of 150 kilometers, this station is deemed insufficiently nearby to be relied upon as our primary source for temperature and dew point records. Consequently, the station records are blended with interpolated values from NASA's MERRA-2 satellite-era reanalysis , and both are corrected for elevation differences according to the International Standard Atmosphere . The weight assigned to the MERRA-2 value depends on the distance from Taohuashan to the nearest station, increasing from 0% at 150 kilometers to 100% at 200 kilometers. In this case, the MERRA-2 weight is 25%, making the weight assigned to the weather station 75%. 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. |