Summer Weather in Cape Charles United States

Daily high temperatures are around 82°F, rarely falling below 68°F or exceeding 92°F. The highest daily average high temperature is 86°F on July 20.

Daily low temperatures increase by 6°F, from 65°F to 70°F, rarely falling below 57°F or exceeding 79°F. The highest daily average low temperature is 74°F on July 21.

For reference, on July 20, the hottest day of the year, temperatures in Cape Charles typically range from 74°F to 86°F, while on January 29, the coldest day of the year, they range from 34°F to 47°F.

The figure below shows you a compact characterization of the hourly average summer 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.

Āstārā, Iran (6,147 miles away); Hiroshima, Japan (7,166 miles); and Yono, Japan (6,898 miles) are the far-away foreign places with temperatures most similar to Cape Charles (view comparison).

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The summer in Cape Charles experiences gradually decreasing cloud cover, with the percentage of time that the sky is overcast or mostly cloudy decreasing from 47% to 39%.

The clearest day of the summer is August 28, with clear, mostly clear, or partly cloudy conditions 61% of the time.

For reference, on December 23, the cloudiest day of the year, the chance of overcast or mostly cloudy conditions is 50%, while on October 11, the clearest day of the year, the chance of clear, mostly clear, or partly cloudy skies is 65%.

A wet day is one with at least 0.04 inches of liquid or liquid-equivalent precipitation. In Cape Charles, the chance of a wet day over the course of the summer is decreasing, starting the season at 35% and ending it at 29%.

For reference, the year's highest daily chance of a wet day is 43% on August 4, and its lowest chance is 21% on October 19.

Rainfall

To 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 summer in Cape Charles is increasing, starting the season at 3.2 inches, when it rarely exceeds 4.8 inches or falls below 1.4 inches, and ending the season at 3.9 inches, when it rarely exceeds 8.1 inches or falls below 1.1 inches.

The highest average 31-day accumulation is 4.2 inches on August 10.

Over the course of the summer in Cape Charles, the length of the day is rapidly decreasing. From the start to the end of the season, the length of the day decreases by 1 hour, 35 minutes, implying an average daily decrease of 1 minute, 3 seconds, and weekly decrease of 7 minutes, 19 seconds.

The shortest day of the summer is August 31, with 12 hours, 59 minutes of daylight and the longest day is June 20, with 14 hours, 44 minutes of daylight.

The earliest sunrise of the summer in Cape Charles is 5:43 AM on June 13 and the latest sunrise is 51 minutes later at 6:34 AM on August 31.

The latest sunset is 8:28 PM on June 28 and the earliest sunset is 55 minutes earlier at 7:33 PM on August 31.

Daylight saving time is observed in Cape Charles during 2024, but it neither starts nor ends during the summer, so the entire season is in standard time.

For reference, on June 20, the longest day of the year, the Sun rises at 5:43 AM and sets 14 hours, 44 minutes later, at 8:27 PM, while on December 21, the shortest day of the year, it rises at 7:14 AM and sets 9 hours, 36 minutes later, at 4:50 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.

The figure below presents a compact representation of key lunar data for the summer 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.

We 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 Cape Charles is very rapidly increasing during the summer, rising from 37% to 68% over the course of the season.

The highest chance of a muggy day during the summer is 86% on August 1.

For reference, on August 1, the muggiest day of the year, there are muggy conditions 86% of the time, while on January 13, the least muggy day of the year, there are muggy conditions 0% of the time.

This 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 Cape Charles is essentially constant during the summer, remaining within 0.5 miles per hour of 9.4 miles per hour throughout.

For reference, on January 18, the windiest day of the year, the daily average wind speed is 13.3 miles per hour, while on July 24, the calmest day of the year, the daily average wind speed is 8.9 miles per hour.

The lowest daily average wind speed during the summer is 8.9 miles per hour on July 24.

The wind direction in Cape Charles during the summer is predominantly out of the south from June 1 to August 28 and the east from August 28 to August 31.

Cape Charles 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 Cape Charles is rapidly increasing during the summer, rising by 10°F, from 67°F to 77°F, over the course of the season.

The highest average surface water temperature during the summer is 78°F on August 3.

Definitions 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 Cape Charles typically lasts for 8.7 months (265 days), from around March 13 to around December 3, rarely starting before February 22 or after April 1, and rarely ending before November 11 or after December 26.

The summer in Cape Charles is reliably fully within the growing 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 in Cape Charles are very rapidly increasing during the summer, increasing by 2,429°F, from 955°F to 3,384°F, over the course of the season.

This 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 Cape Charles is decreasing during the summer, falling by 1.1 kWh, from 6.8 kWh to 5.7 kWh, over the course of the season.

The highest average daily incident shortwave solar energy during the summer is 6.9 kWh on June 22.

For the purposes of this report, the geographical coordinates of Cape Charles are 37.268 deg latitude, -76.017 deg longitude, and 3 ft elevation.

The topography within 2 miles of Cape Charles is essentially flat, with a maximum elevation change of 16 feet and an average elevation above sea level of 3 feet. Within 10 miles is also essentially flat (56 feet). Within 50 miles is essentially flat (217 feet).

The area within 2 miles of Cape Charles is covered by water (52%), artificial surfaces (30%), and cropland (15%), within 10 miles by water (74%) and cropland (15%), and within 50 miles by water (64%) and trees (17%).