Winter Weather in Samarai Papua New GuineaDaily high temperatures are around 80°F, rarely falling below 77°F or exceeding 83°F. The lowest daily average high temperature is 79°F on August 5. Daily low temperatures are around 78°F, rarely falling below 74°F or exceeding 80°F. The lowest daily average low temperature is 76°F on August 10. For reference, on January 17, the hottest day of the year, temperatures in Samarai typically range from 82°F to 84°F, while on August 6, the coldest day of the year, they range from 76°F to 79°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. San Andrés, Colombia (8,905 miles away); Golden Grove, Jamaica (9,272 miles); and Codrington, Antigua & Barbuda (10,220 miles) are the far-away foreign places with temperatures most similar to Samarai (view comparison). CloudsThe winter in Samarai experiences gradually decreasing cloud cover, with the percentage of time that the sky is overcast or mostly cloudy decreasing from 73% to 66%. The lowest chance of overcast or mostly cloudy conditions is 64% on August 12. The clearest day of the winter is August 12, with clear, mostly clear, or partly cloudy conditions 36% of the time. For reference, on January 6, the cloudiest day of the year, the chance of overcast or mostly cloudy conditions is 87%, while on August 12, the clearest day of the year, the chance of clear, mostly clear, or partly cloudy skies is 36%. PrecipitationA wet day is one with at least 0.04 inches of liquid or liquid-equivalent precipitation. In Samarai, the chance of a wet day over the course of the winter is very rapidly decreasing, starting the season at 40% and ending it at 30%. For reference, the year's highest daily chance of a wet day is 59% on February 11, and its lowest chance is 30% on November 22. 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 Samarai is decreasing, starting the season at 4.6 inches, when it rarely exceeds 8.2 inches or falls below 1.7 inches, and ending the season at 3.7 inches, when it rarely exceeds 8.0 inches or falls below 0.3 inches. The lowest average 31-day accumulation is 3.3 inches on July 28. SunOver the course of the winter in Samarai, the length of the day is gradually increasing. From the start to the end of the season, the length of the day increases by 21 minutes, implying an average daily increase of 14 seconds, and weekly increase of 1 minute, 39 seconds. The shortest day of the winter is June 21, with 11 hours, 30 minutes of daylight and the longest day is August 31, with 11 hours, 54 minutes of daylight. The latest sunrise of the winter in Samarai is 6:16 AM on July 13 and the earliest sunrise is 16 minutes earlier at 6:00 AM on August 31. The earliest sunset is 5:41 PM on June 1 and the latest sunset is 13 minutes later at 5:54 PM on August 21. Daylight saving time is not observed in Samarai during 2024. For reference, on December 21, the longest day of the year, the Sun rises at 5:32 AM and sets 12 hours, 45 minutes later, at 6:17 PM, while on June 20, the shortest day of the year, it rises at 6:13 AM and sets 11 hours, 30 minutes later, at 5:44 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 Samarai is essentially constant during the winter, remaining within 1% of 99% throughout. The lowest chance of a muggy day during the winter is 98% on August 1. For reference, on January 1, the muggiest day of the year, there are muggy conditions 100% of the time, while on August 1, the least muggy day of the year, there are muggy conditions 98% 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 Samarai is increasing during the winter, increasing from 13.9 miles per hour to 15.0 miles per hour over the course of the season. For reference, on July 30, the windiest day of the year, the daily average wind speed is 16.0 miles per hour, while on January 7, the calmest day of the year, the daily average wind speed is 9.0 miles per hour. The highest daily average wind speed during the winter is 16.0 miles per hour on July 30. The wind direction in Samarai during the winter is predominantly out of the east from June 1 to July 23 and from August 11 to August 31 and the south from July 23 to August 11. Water TemperatureSamarai 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 Samarai is gradually decreasing during the winter, falling by 2°F, from 81°F to 78°F, over the course of the season. The lowest average surface water temperature during the winter is 78°F on August 17. 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 Samarai 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 Samarai are very rapidly decreasing during the winter, decreasing by 8,585°F, from 10,267°F to 1,682°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 Samarai is increasing during the winter, rising by 1.1 kWh, from 4.5 kWh to 5.6 kWh, over the course of the season. The lowest average daily incident shortwave solar energy during the winter is 4.4 kWh on June 23. TopographyFor the purposes of this report, the geographical coordinates of Samarai are -10.617 deg latitude, 150.667 deg longitude, and 0 ft elevation. The topography within 2 miles of Samarai contains very significant variations in elevation, with a maximum elevation change of 938 feet and an average elevation above sea level of 29 feet. Within 10 miles contains very significant variations in elevation (2,080 feet). Within 50 miles contains large variations in elevation (4,882 feet). The area within 2 miles of Samarai is covered by water (88%) and trees (11%), within 10 miles by water (73%) and trees (23%), and within 50 miles by water (84%) and trees (14%). Data SourcesThis report illustrates the typical weather in Samarai, based on a statistical analysis of historical hourly weather reports and model reconstructions from January 1, 1980 to December 31, 2016. Samarai is further than 200 kilometers from the nearest reliable weather station, so the weather-related data on this page were taken entirely from NASA's MERRA-2 satellite-era reanalysis . 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. The temperature and dew point estimates are corrected for the difference between the reference elevation of the MERRA-2 grid cell and the elevation of Samarai, according to the International Standard Atmosphere . All 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. 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. 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