Spring Weather at Brewster Field United StatesDaily high temperatures increase by 29°F, from 49°F to 78°F, rarely falling below 30°F or exceeding 89°F. Daily low temperatures increase by 30°F, from 26°F to 56°F, rarely falling below 12°F or exceeding 64°F. For reference, on July 19, the hottest day of the year, temperatures at Brewster Field typically range from 65°F to 88°F, while on January 2, the coldest day of the year, they range from 18°F to 37°F. The figure below shows you a compact characterization of the hourly average spring 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. K’anak’erravan, Armenia (6,423 miles away); Tafresh, Iran (6,898 miles); and Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan (6,675 miles) are the far-away foreign places with temperatures most similar to Brewster Field (view comparison). CloudsThe spring at Brewster Field experiences decreasing cloud cover, with the percentage of time that the sky is overcast or mostly cloudy decreasing from 47% to 38%. The highest chance of overcast or mostly cloudy conditions is 48% on March 3. The clearest day of the spring is May 31, with clear, mostly clear, or partly cloudy conditions 62% of the time. For reference, on March 3, the cloudiest day of the year, the chance of overcast or mostly cloudy conditions is 48%, while on July 7, 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. At Brewster Field, the chance of a wet day over the course of the spring is very rapidly increasing, starting the season at 8% and ending it at 36%. For reference, the year's highest daily chance of a wet day is 37% on June 5, and its lowest chance is 4% on January 15. Over the course of the spring at Brewster Field, the chance of a day with only rain increases from 4% to 36%, 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 decreases from 2% to 0%. 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 spring at Brewster Field is very rapidly increasing, starting the season at 0.6 inches, when it rarely exceeds 1.7 inches, and ending the season at 3.5 inches, when it rarely exceeds 5.9 inches or falls below 1.7 inches. The highest average 31-day accumulation is 3.5 inches on May 28. 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 spring at Brewster Field is decreasing, starting the season at 2.0 inches, when it rarely exceeds 6.3 inches or falls below -0.0 inches, and ending the season at -0.0 inches, when it rarely exceeds 0.0 inches or falls below -0.0 inches. SunOver the course of the spring at Brewster Field, the length of the day is very rapidly increasing. From the start to the end of the season, the length of the day increases by 3 hours, 33 minutes, implying an average daily increase of 2 minutes, 20 seconds, and weekly increase of 16 minutes, 21 seconds. The shortest day of the spring is March 1, with 11 hours, 19 minutes of daylight and the longest day is May 31, with 14 hours, 52 minutes of daylight. The latest sunrise of the spring at Brewster Field is 7:55 AM on March 10 and the earliest sunrise is 1 hour, 47 minutes earlier at 6:09 AM on May 31. The earliest sunset is 6:29 PM on March 1 and the latest sunset is 2 hours, 32 minutes later at 9:01 PM on May 31. Daylight saving time (DST) ends at 3:00 AM on March 10, 2024, shifting sunrise and sunset to be an hour earlier. For reference, on June 20, the longest day of the year, the Sun rises at 6:07 AM and sets 15 hours, 4 minutes later, at 9:11 PM, while on December 21, the shortest day of the year, it rises at 7:57 AM and sets 9 hours, 17 minutes later, at 5:14 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 spring 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 at Brewster Field is gradually increasing during the spring, rising from 0% to 4% over the course of the season. For reference, on July 24, the muggiest day of the year, there are muggy conditions 38% of the time, while on October 22, 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 at Brewster Field is gradually decreasing during the spring, decreasing from 12.1 miles per hour to 11.4 miles per hour over the course of the season. For reference, on April 10, the windiest day of the year, the daily average wind speed is 13.4 miles per hour, while on August 4, the calmest day of the year, the daily average wind speed is 9.4 miles per hour. The highest daily average wind speed during the spring is 13.4 miles per hour on April 10. The wind direction at Brewster Field during the spring is predominantly out of the north from March 1 to April 29 and the south from April 29 to May 31. 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 at Brewster Field typically lasts for 5.6 months (172 days), from around April 24 to around October 12, rarely starting before April 6 or after May 10, and rarely ending before September 23 or after October 31. During the spring at Brewster Field, the chance that a given day is within the growing season is very rapidly increasing rising from 1% to 100% over the course of the season. 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 at Brewster Field are rapidly increasing during the spring, increasing by 590°F, from 26°F to 616°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 at Brewster Field is very rapidly increasing during the spring, rising by 2.9 kWh, from 4.1 kWh to 7.1 kWh, over the course of the season. TopographyFor the purposes of this report, the geographical coordinates of Brewster Field are 40.451 deg latitude, -99.336 deg longitude, and 2,306 ft elevation. The topography within 2 miles of Brewster Field is essentially flat, with a maximum elevation change of 62 feet and an average elevation above sea level of 2,305 feet. Within 10 miles is essentially flat (262 feet). Within 50 miles contains only modest variations in elevation (1,243 feet). The area within 2 miles of Brewster Field is covered by cropland (91%), within 10 miles by cropland (95%), and within 50 miles by cropland (56%) and grassland (43%). Data SourcesThis report illustrates the typical weather at Brewster Field, based on a statistical analysis of historical hourly weather reports and model reconstructions from January 1, 1980 to December 31, 2016. Temperature and Dew PointBrewster Field has a weather station that reported reliably enough during the analysis period that we have included it in our network. When available, historical temperature and dew point measurements are taken directly from this weather station. These records are obtained from NOAA's Integrated Surface Hourly data set, falling back on ICAO METAR records as required. In the case of missing or erroneous measurements from this station, we fall back on records from nearby stations, adjusted according to typical seasonal and diurnal intra-station differences. For a given day of the year and hour of the day, the fallback station is selected to minimize the prediction error over the years for which there are measurements for both stations. The stations on which we may fall back include but are not limited to Kearney Municipal Airport, Jim Kelly Field, Hastings Municipal Airport, Broken Bow Municipal Airport, Central Nebraska Regional Airport, Hill City Municipal Airport, Evelyn Sharp Field, and McCook Ben Nelson Regional Airport. 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. |