Winter Weather in Cockburn Town BahamasDaily high temperatures are around 79°F, rarely falling below 75°F or exceeding 83°F. The lowest daily average high temperature is 78°F on February 5. Daily low temperatures are around 72°F, rarely falling below 66°F or exceeding 76°F. The lowest daily average low temperature is 70°F on February 20. For reference, on August 8, the hottest day of the year, temperatures in Cockburn Town typically range from 78°F to 88°F, while on February 18, the coldest day of the year, they range from 70°F to 78°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. Neiafu, Tonga (7,319 miles away); Pointe-Noire, Congo - Brazzaville (6,133 miles); and Sokoni, Tanzania (7,925 miles) are the far-away foreign places with temperatures most similar to Cockburn Town (view comparison). CloudsThe winter in Cockburn Town experiences decreasing cloud cover, with the percentage of time that the sky is overcast or mostly cloudy decreasing from 32% to 22%. The lowest chance of overcast or mostly cloudy conditions is 22% on February 25. The clearest day of the winter is February 25, with clear, mostly clear, or partly cloudy conditions 78% of the time. For reference, on June 13, the cloudiest day of the year, the chance of overcast or mostly cloudy conditions is 67%, while on February 25, the clearest day of the year, the chance of clear, mostly clear, or partly cloudy skies is 78%. PrecipitationA wet day is one with at least 0.04 inches of liquid or liquid-equivalent precipitation. In Cockburn Town, the chance of a wet day over the course of the winter is gradually decreasing, starting the season at 13% and ending it at 9%. For reference, the year's highest daily chance of a wet day is 26% on October 10, and its lowest chance is 7% on December 26. 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 Cockburn Town is essentially constant, remaining about 0.7 inches throughout, and rarely exceeding 2.1 inches. SunOver the course of the winter in Cockburn Town, the length of the day is increasing. From the start to the end of the season, the length of the day increases by 54 minutes, implying an average daily increase of 37 seconds, and weekly increase of 4 minutes, 17 seconds. The shortest day of the winter is December 20, with 10 hours, 39 minutes of daylight and the longest day is February 28, with 11 hours, 40 minutes of daylight. The latest sunrise of the winter in Cockburn Town is 6:43 AM on January 14 and the earliest sunrise is 22 minutes earlier at 6:20 AM on February 28. The earliest sunset is 5:09 PM on December 1 and the latest sunset is 51 minutes later at 6:00 PM on February 28. Daylight saving time is observed in Cockburn Town during 2024, but it neither starts nor ends during the winter, so the entire season is in daylight saving time. For reference, on June 20, the longest day of the year, the Sun rises at 6:11 AM and sets 13 hours, 37 minutes later, at 7:48 PM, while on December 21, the shortest day of the year, it rises at 6:37 AM and sets 10 hours, 39 minutes later, at 5:16 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 Cockburn Town is very rapidly decreasing during the winter, falling from 71% to 45% over the course of the season. For reference, on June 30, the muggiest day of the year, there are muggy conditions 100% of the time, while on March 6, the least muggy day of the year, there are muggy conditions 45% 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 Cockburn Town is gradually decreasing during the winter, decreasing from 14.8 miles per hour to 14.1 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 15.0 miles per hour, while on September 13, the calmest day of the year, the daily average wind speed is 11.4 miles per hour. The hourly average wind direction in Cockburn Town throughout the winter is predominantly from the east, with a peak proportion of 67% on December 2. Water TemperatureCockburn Town 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 Cockburn Town is gradually decreasing during the winter, falling by 3°F, from 80°F to 76°F, over the course of the season. 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 Cockburn Town 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 Cockburn Town are very rapidly decreasing during the winter, decreasing by 8,115°F, from 9,490°F to 1,374°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 Cockburn Town is rapidly increasing during the winter, rising by 1.6 kWh, from 4.1 kWh to 5.6 kWh, over the course of the season. The lowest average daily incident shortwave solar energy during the winter is 3.9 kWh on December 22. TopographyFor the purposes of this report, the geographical coordinates of Cockburn Town are 24.052 deg latitude, -74.531 deg longitude, and 33 ft elevation. The topography within 2 miles of Cockburn Town contains only modest variations in elevation, with a maximum elevation change of 98 feet and an average elevation above sea level of 12 feet. Within 10 miles also contains only modest variations in elevation (161 feet). Within 50 miles also contains only modest variations in elevation (167 feet). The area within 2 miles of Cockburn Town is covered by water (75%) and bare soil (19%), within 10 miles by water (88%), and within 50 miles by water (99%). Data SourcesThis report illustrates the typical weather in Cockburn Town, 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, George Town Airport, in our network suitable to be used as a proxy for the historical temperature and dew point records of Cockburn Town. At a distance of 143 kilometers from Cockburn Town, 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 Cockburn Town 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. 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