Fall Weather in Qaqortoq Greenland

Daily high temperatures decrease by 18°F, from 49°F to 31°F, rarely falling below 18°F or exceeding 56°F.

Daily low temperatures decrease by 18°F, from 41°F to 23°F, rarely falling below 11°F or exceeding 46°F.

For reference, on July 30, the hottest day of the year, temperatures in Qaqortoq typically range from 43°F to 52°F, while on January 26, the coldest day of the year, they range from 17°F to 27°F.

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

Diamond Ridge, United States (3,225 miles away) is the far-away foreign place with temperatures most similar to Qaqortoq (view comparison).

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The fall in Qaqortoq experiences essentially constant cloud cover, with the percentage of time that the sky is overcast or mostly cloudy remaining about 57% throughout the season. The lowest chance of overcast or mostly cloudy conditions is 52% on October 14.

The clearest day of the fall is October 14, with clear, mostly clear, or partly cloudy conditions 48% of the time.

For reference, on February 3, the cloudiest day of the year, the chance of overcast or mostly cloudy conditions is 71%, while on October 14, the clearest day of the year, the chance of clear, mostly clear, or partly cloudy skies is 48%.

A wet day is one with at least 0.04 inches of liquid or liquid-equivalent precipitation. In Qaqortoq, the chance of a wet day over the course of the fall is gradually decreasing, starting the season at 37% and ending it at 34%.

For reference, the year's highest daily chance of a wet day is 40% on September 9, and its lowest chance is 26% on March 20.

Over the course of the fall in Qaqortoq, the chance of a day with only rain decreases from 37% to 11%, the chance of a day with mixed snow and rain increases from 0% to 13%, and the chance of a day with only snow increases from 0% to 10%.

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 fall in Qaqortoq is very rapidly decreasing, starting the season at 5.8 inches, when it rarely exceeds 10.6 inches or falls below 1.7 inches, and ending the season at 3.6 inches, when it rarely exceeds 7.7 inches or falls below 0.6 inches.

The highest average 31-day accumulation is 5.8 inches on September 5.

Snowfall

As 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 fall in Qaqortoq is very rapidly increasing, starting the season at 0.0 inches, when it rarely exceeds 0.1 inches or falls below -0.0 inches, and ending the season at 12.7 inches, when it rarely exceeds 26.3 inches or falls below 2.9 inches.

Over the course of the fall in Qaqortoq, the length of the day is very rapidly decreasing. From the start to the end of the season, the length of the day decreases by 7 hours, 52 minutes, implying an average daily decrease of 5 minutes, 15 seconds, and weekly decrease of 36 minutes, 45 seconds.

The shortest day of the fall is November 30, with 6 hours, 17 minutes of daylight and the longest day is September 1, with 14 hours, 9 minutes of daylight.

The earliest sunrise of the fall in Qaqortoq is 6:58 AM on September 1 and the latest sunrise is 2 hours, 46 minutes later at 9:44 AM on November 30.

The latest sunset is 9:07 PM on September 1 and the earliest sunset is 5 hours, 7 minutes earlier at 4:01 PM on November 30.

Daylight saving time (DST) starts at 11:00 PM on October 26, 2024, shifting sunrise and sunset to be an hour later.

For reference, on June 20, the longest day of the year, the Sun rises at 4:31 AM and sets 19 hours, 9 minutes later, at 11:40 PM, while on December 21, the shortest day of the year, it rises at 10:13 AM and sets 5 hours, 38 minutes later, at 3:51 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 fall 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 Qaqortoq is essentially constant during the fall, remaining around 0% throughout.

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 Qaqortoq is very rapidly increasing during the fall, increasing from 8.7 miles per hour to 13.4 miles per hour over the course of the season.

For reference, on January 14, the windiest day of the year, the daily average wind speed is 15.6 miles per hour, while on July 20, the calmest day of the year, the daily average wind speed is 6.9 miles per hour.

The wind direction in Qaqortoq during the fall is predominantly out of the west from September 1 to September 18 and the east from September 18 to November 30.

Qaqortoq 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 Qaqortoq is decreasing during the fall, falling by 5°F, from 39°F to 33°F, over the course of the season.

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 Qaqortoq typically lasts for 3.6 months (111 days), from around June 10 to around September 29, rarely starting before May 13 or after July 5, and rarely ending before September 7 or after October 18.

During the fall in Qaqortoq, the chance that a given day is within the growing season is very rapidly decreasing falling from 93% to 0% 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 in Qaqortoq are essentially constant during the fall, remaining within 6°F of 90°F throughout.

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 Qaqortoq is very rapidly decreasing during the fall, falling by 3.1 kWh, from 3.4 kWh to 0.3 kWh, over the course of the season.

For the purposes of this report, the geographical coordinates of Qaqortoq are 60.717 deg latitude, -46.033 deg longitude, and 0 ft elevation.

The topography within 2 miles of Qaqortoq contains very significant variations in elevation, with a maximum elevation change of 1,178 feet and an average elevation above sea level of 157 feet. Within 10 miles contains very significant variations in elevation (2,205 feet). Within 50 miles contains large variations in elevation (6,998 feet).

The area within 2 miles of Qaqortoq is covered by sparse vegetation (63%), water (13%), and trees (11%), within 10 miles by sparse vegetation (39%) and water (27%), and within 50 miles by water (42%) and snow and glaciers (24%).