Winter Weather in Van Horn Texas, United StatesDaily high temperatures increase by 6°F, from 62°F to 67°F, rarely falling below 45°F or exceeding 77°F. The lowest daily average high temperature is 57°F on January 5. Daily low temperatures are around 37°F, rarely falling below 24°F or exceeding 49°F. The lowest daily average low temperature is 33°F on December 30. For reference, on June 14, the hottest day of the year, temperatures in Van Horn typically range from 67°F to 93°F, while on December 30, the coldest day of the year, they range from 33°F to 57°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. Caucete, Argentina (4,954 miles away) is the far-away foreign place with temperatures most similar to Van Horn (view comparison). CloudsThe winter in Van Horn experiences gradually increasing cloud cover, with the percentage of time that the sky is overcast or mostly cloudy increasing from 33% to 38%. The highest chance of overcast or mostly cloudy conditions is 38% on February 23. The clearest day of the winter is December 1, with clear, mostly clear, or partly cloudy conditions 67% of the time. For reference, on August 4, the cloudiest day of the year, the chance of overcast or mostly cloudy conditions is 41%, while on June 9, the clearest day of the year, the chance of clear, mostly clear, or partly cloudy skies is 80%. PrecipitationA wet day is one with at least 0.04 inches of liquid or liquid-equivalent precipitation. In Van Horn, the chance of a wet day over the course of the winter is essentially constant, remaining around 8% throughout. For reference, the year's highest daily chance of a wet day is 31% on August 13, and its lowest chance is 6% on April 4. 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 Van Horn is essentially constant, remaining about 0.4 inches throughout, and rarely exceeding 1.3 inches. The lowest average 31-day accumulation is 0.3 inches on January 21. SunOver the course of the winter in Van Horn, the length of the day is rapidly increasing. From the start to the end of the season, the length of the day increases by 1 hour, 14 minutes, implying an average daily increase of 50 seconds, and weekly increase of 5 minutes, 50 seconds. The shortest day of the winter is December 20, with 10 hours, 8 minutes of daylight and the longest day is February 28, with 11 hours, 31 minutes of daylight. The latest sunrise of the winter in Van Horn is 7:58 AM on January 9 and the earliest sunrise is 32 minutes earlier at 7:26 AM on February 28. The earliest sunset is 5:56 PM on December 2 and the latest sunset is 1 hour, 1 minute later at 6:57 PM on February 28. Daylight saving time is observed in Van Horn 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 6:56 AM and sets 14 hours, 10 minutes later, at 9:06 PM, while on December 21, the shortest day of the year, it rises at 7:53 AM and sets 10 hours, 8 minutes later, at 6:01 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 Van Horn is essentially constant during the winter, remaining around 0% throughout. For reference, on July 13, the muggiest day of the year, there are muggy conditions 1% of the time, while on January 1, 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 in Van Horn is increasing during the winter, increasing from 9.1 miles per hour to 10.4 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 11.2 miles per hour, while on August 14, the calmest day of the year, the daily average wind speed is 7.2 miles per hour. The hourly average wind direction in Van Horn throughout the winter is predominantly from the west, with a peak proportion of 52% on February 21. 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 in Van Horn typically lasts for 7.9 months (241 days), from around March 18 to around November 14, rarely starting before February 23 or after April 10, and rarely ending before October 27 or after December 4. The winter in Van Horn is more likely than not fully outside of the growing season, with the chance that a given day is in the growing season reaching a low of -0% on December 28. 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 Van Horn are very rapidly decreasing during the winter, decreasing by 5,203°F, from 5,396°F to 194°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 Van Horn is rapidly increasing during the winter, rising by 1.7 kWh, from 3.8 kWh to 5.4 kWh, over the course of the season. The lowest average daily incident shortwave solar energy during the winter is 3.5 kWh on December 22. TopographyFor the purposes of this report, the geographical coordinates of Van Horn are 31.040 deg latitude, -104.831 deg longitude, and 4,039 ft elevation. The topography within 2 miles of Van Horn contains only modest variations in elevation, with a maximum elevation change of 230 feet and an average elevation above sea level of 4,046 feet. Within 10 miles contains only modest variations in elevation (2,156 feet). Within 50 miles contains large variations in elevation (5,377 feet). The area within 2 miles of Van Horn is covered by shrubs (100%), within 10 miles by shrubs (98%), and within 50 miles by shrubs (94%). Data SourcesThis report illustrates the typical weather in Van Horn, 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 are 4 weather stations near enough to contribute to our estimation of the temperature and dew point in Van Horn. For each station, the records are corrected for the elevation difference between that station and Van Horn according to the International Standard Atmosphere , and by the relative change present in the MERRA-2 satellite-era reanalysis between the two locations. The estimated value at Van Horn is computed as the weighted average of the individual contributions from each station, with weights proportional to the inverse of the distance between Van Horn and a given station. The stations contributing to this reconstruction are:
To get a sense of how much these sources agree with each other, you can view a comparison of Van Horn and the stations that contribute to our estimates of its temperature history and climate. Please note that each source's contribution is adjusted for elevation and the relative change present in the MERRA-2 data. 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. |