Spring Weather at Meekatharra Airport Western Australia, AustraliaDaily high temperatures increase by 19°F, from 74°F to 93°F, rarely falling below 65°F or exceeding 101°F. Daily low temperatures increase by 19°F, from 52°F to 70°F, rarely falling below 45°F or exceeding 78°F. For reference, on January 9, the hottest day of the year, temperatures at Meekatharra Airport typically range from 77°F to 100°F, while on July 11, the coldest day of the year, they range from 47°F to 66°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. Crystal City, Texas, United States (10,105 miles away) is the far-away foreign place with temperatures most similar to Meekatharra Airport (view comparison). CloudsThe spring at Meekatharra Airport experiences increasing cloud cover, with the percentage of time that the sky is overcast or mostly cloudy increasing from 6% to 15%. The lowest chance of overcast or mostly cloudy conditions is 5% on September 20. The clearest day of the spring is September 20, with clear, mostly clear, or partly cloudy conditions 95% of the time. For reference, on April 16, the cloudiest day of the year, the chance of overcast or mostly cloudy conditions is 34%, while on September 20, the clearest day of the year, the chance of clear, mostly clear, or partly cloudy skies is 95%. PrecipitationA wet day is one with at least 0.04 inches of liquid or liquid-equivalent precipitation. At Meekatharra Airport, the chance of a wet day over the course of the spring is increasing, starting the season at 3% and ending it at 7%. For reference, the year's highest daily chance of a wet day is 14% on February 14, and its lowest chance is 2% on September 9. 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 Meekatharra Airport is gradually increasing, starting the season at 0.2 inches, when it rarely exceeds 0.5 inches or falls below -0.0 inches, and ending the season at 0.6 inches, when it rarely exceeds 1.8 inches. The lowest average 31-day accumulation is 0.1 inches on September 15. SunOver the course of the spring at Meekatharra Airport, 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 2 hours, 6 minutes, implying an average daily increase of 1 minute, 24 seconds, and weekly increase of 9 minutes, 47 seconds. The shortest day of the spring is September 1, with 11 hours, 35 minutes of daylight and the longest day is November 30, with 13 hours, 40 minutes of daylight. The latest sunrise of the spring at Meekatharra Airport is 6:18 AM on September 1 and the earliest sunrise is 1 hour, 14 minutes earlier at 5:04 AM on November 30. The earliest sunset is 5:53 PM on September 1 and the latest sunset is 52 minutes later at 6:44 PM on November 30. Daylight saving time is not observed at Meekatharra Airport during 2024. For reference, on December 21, the longest day of the year, the Sun rises at 5:09 AM and sets 13 hours, 49 minutes later, at 6:58 PM, while on June 20, the shortest day of the year, it rises at 6:53 AM and sets 10 hours, 28 minutes later, at 5:21 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 Meekatharra Airport is essentially constant during the spring, remaining within 1% of 1% throughout. For reference, on February 14, the muggiest day of the year, there are muggy conditions 13% of the time, while on June 27, 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 Meekatharra Airport is increasing during the spring, increasing from 10.3 miles per hour to 12.0 miles per hour over the course of the season. For reference, on November 26, the windiest day of the year, the daily average wind speed is 12.0 miles per hour, while on May 17, the calmest day of the year, the daily average wind speed is 9.7 miles per hour. The highest daily average wind speed during the spring is 12.0 miles per hour on November 26. The wind direction at Meekatharra Airport during the spring is predominantly out of the east from September 1 to September 8 and from October 15 to November 30 and the south from September 8 to October 15. 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 at Meekatharra Airport 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 at Meekatharra Airport are very rapidly increasing during the spring, increasing by 2,012°F, from 544°F to 2,556°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 Meekatharra Airport is very rapidly increasing during the spring, rising by 2.6 kWh, from 6.0 kWh to 8.6 kWh, over the course of the season. TopographyFor the purposes of this report, the geographical coordinates of Meekatharra Airport are -26.608 deg latitude, 118.545 deg longitude, and 1,703 ft elevation. The topography within 2 miles of Meekatharra Airport contains only modest variations in elevation, with a maximum elevation change of 151 feet and an average elevation above sea level of 1,699 feet. Within 10 miles contains only modest variations in elevation (623 feet). Within 50 miles contains significant variations in elevation (1,073 feet). The area within 2 miles of Meekatharra Airport is covered by sparse vegetation (99%), within 10 miles by sparse vegetation (89%) and grassland (11%), and within 50 miles by sparse vegetation (86%) and grassland (12%). Data SourcesThis report illustrates the typical weather at Meekatharra Airport, based on a statistical analysis of historical hourly weather reports and model reconstructions from January 1, 1980 to December 31, 2016. Temperature and Dew PointMeekatharra Airport 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. There are no other weather stations in our network within 200 kilometers of this location. Consequently, in the case of missing or erroneous measurements from this station, we fall back on NASA's MERRA-2 modern-era reanalysis , adjusted according to typical seasonal and diurnal differences between this station and the wide-area MERRA-2 reconstructed values.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. |