Winter Weather in Xiaogang ChinaDaily high temperatures are around 53°F, rarely falling below 38°F or exceeding 69°F. The lowest daily average high temperature is 48°F on January 20. Daily low temperatures are around 42°F, rarely falling below 30°F or exceeding 54°F. The lowest daily average low temperature is 38°F on January 20. For reference, on July 27, the hottest day of the year, temperatures in Xiaogang typically range from 80°F to 93°F, while on January 20, the coldest day of the year, they range from 38°F to 48°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. Āmol, Iran (3,688 miles away) is the far-away foreign place with temperatures most similar to Xiaogang (view comparison). CloudsThe winter in Xiaogang experiences rapidly increasing cloud cover, with the percentage of time that the sky is overcast or mostly cloudy increasing from 28% to 44%. The lowest chance of overcast or mostly cloudy conditions is 26% on December 17. The clearest day of the winter is December 17, with clear, mostly clear, or partly cloudy conditions 74% of the time. For reference, on July 4, the cloudiest day of the year, the chance of overcast or mostly cloudy conditions is 78%, while on October 22, the clearest day of the year, the chance of clear, mostly clear, or partly cloudy skies is 74%. PrecipitationA wet day is one with at least 0.04 inches of liquid or liquid-equivalent precipitation. In Xiaogang, the chance of a wet day over the course of the winter is very rapidly increasing, starting the season at 18% and ending it at 42%. For reference, the year's highest daily chance of a wet day is 52% on March 27, and its lowest chance is 14% on December 17. Over the course of the winter in Xiaogang, the chance of a day with only rain increases from 17% to 42%, the chance of a day with mixed snow and rain remains an essentially constant 1% throughout, and the chance of a day with only snow remains an essentially constant 0% 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 Xiaogang is very rapidly increasing, starting the season at 1.9 inches, when it rarely exceeds 4.8 inches or falls below 0.2 inches, and ending the season at 4.9 inches, when it rarely exceeds 8.0 inches or falls below 2.0 inches. The lowest average 31-day accumulation is 1.5 inches on December 19. 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 Xiaogang is essentially constant, remaining about 0.6 inches throughout, and rarely exceeding 2.7 inches or falling to 0.0 inches. The highest average 31-day accumulation is 1.1 inches on January 31. SunOver the course of the winter in Xiaogang, 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, 5 minutes, implying an average daily increase of 44 seconds, and weekly increase of 5 minutes, 5 seconds. The shortest day of the winter is December 21, with 10 hours, 21 minutes of daylight and the longest day is February 28, with 11 hours, 33 minutes of daylight. The latest sunrise of the winter in Xiaogang is 7:09 AM on January 11 and the earliest sunrise is 27 minutes earlier at 6:42 AM on February 28. The earliest sunset is 5:19 PM on December 1 and the latest sunset is 56 minutes later at 6:15 PM on February 28. Daylight saving time is not observed in Xiaogang during 2024. For reference, on June 20, the longest day of the year, the Sun rises at 5:20 AM and sets 13 hours, 56 minutes later, at 7:16 PM, while on December 21, the shortest day of the year, it rises at 7:04 AM and sets 10 hours, 21 minutes later, at 5:25 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 Xiaogang is essentially constant during the winter, remaining around 0% throughout. The lowest chance of a muggy day during the winter is 0% on December 22. For reference, on July 9, the muggiest day of the year, there are muggy conditions 100% of the time, while on December 14, 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 Xiaogang is essentially constant during the winter, remaining within 0.3 miles per hour of 7.6 miles per hour throughout. For reference, on March 9, the windiest day of the year, the daily average wind speed is 8.0 miles per hour, while on August 5, the calmest day of the year, the daily average wind speed is 6.3 miles per hour. The lowest daily average wind speed during the winter is 7.2 miles per hour on January 2. The hourly average wind direction in Xiaogang throughout the winter is predominantly from the north, with a peak proportion of 75% on December 5. 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 Xiaogang typically lasts for 11 months (322 days), from around February 4 to around December 22, rarely starting after February 29, or ending before November 29. The smallest chance that a given day will be within the growing season in Xiaogang during the winter is 16% on January 12. 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 Xiaogang are very rapidly decreasing during the winter, decreasing by 5,927°F, from 6,026°F to 99°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 Xiaogang is essentially constant during the winter, remaining within 0.3 kWh of 3.4 kWh throughout. The lowest average daily incident shortwave solar energy during the winter is 3.1 kWh on January 9. TopographyFor the purposes of this report, the geographical coordinates of Xiaogang are 28.247 deg latitude, 115.863 deg longitude, and 85 ft elevation. The topography within 2 miles of Xiaogang contains only modest variations in elevation, with a maximum elevation change of 131 feet and an average elevation above sea level of 75 feet. Within 10 miles contains only modest variations in elevation (591 feet). Within 50 miles contains significant variations in elevation (4,016 feet). The area within 2 miles of Xiaogang is covered by cropland (63%) and water (21%), within 10 miles by cropland (66%), and within 50 miles by cropland (45%) and trees (33%). Data SourcesThis report illustrates the typical weather in Xiaogang, 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, Nanchang Changbei International Airport, in our network suitable to be used as a proxy for the historical temperature and dew point records of Xiaogang. At a distance of 69 kilometers from Xiaogang, 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 Xiaogang 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. |