Thursday, November 24, 2011

Impact of Clouds on Temperatures



The last 24 hours have featured a textbook example of the impact of clouds on valley temperatures in Interior Alaska in winter. Here is a plot of the hourly temperature at the Fairbanks Airport. Variations in temperature are completely related to changes in clouds cover: clears out for a few hours, the temperature drops 20 degrees. Clouds return, and the temperature pops right back up. In contrast, here on Keystone Ridge, the temperature has varied by 5 degrees in the same time, -1F to -5F

3 comments:

  1. Very interesting portrayal of the impact of clouds on temperatures. My question is what happened between 4am and 9am that it didn't cool off again.
    Matthew

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  2. Ahh....The lines somehow got off. I'll try and fix and repost later this evening.

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