Images

MICROCLIMATE MAPS

Our class collected data on the UWEC campus area. We collected wind speed, wind direction, temperature, and dew point. These are several varaiations of microclimate maps that I made from the data that was collected.

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TEMPERATURE TRENDS

This is a chart that shows the general temperature trends in the United States since 1985. You can see that from year to year the temperatures vary, and the average temperature has held consistent at about 33 degrees Fahrenheit; however, it shows that the trend is that temperature has continued to rise over the years, startin gat 32 degrees and currently being at about 34 degrees.

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CLIMOGRAPHS

The following images are climographs of cities near Eau Claire, WI that were compiled of precipitation and temperature data. They show the average temperatures and the amount of rainfall each city typically receives in a given year.

It's important to compare multiple locations when looking at climographs for many reasons. One reason is because the specific city you want to look at might have an abnormal year compared to the trend and you need to see if all of the areas are experiencing the same phenomenon or if that specific city is the only one experiencing strange patterns. Also, it is interesting to compare multiple cities because even though they are near each other their climate trends might vary based on if they are located further north, south, by mountainous areas, or by a large body of water. You can see in these graphs the Milwaukee tends to have precipitation earlier in the year than the other cities-this might have to do with the fact that Milwaukee is righ ton the border of Lake Michigan, which would allow them to have lake-effect storms and also provide the area with a large source to get moisture in the air from.

Looking at the information that I wrote about in blog throughout the semester, the climograph of Eau Claire holds true. We have had increasing temperature & amount of precipitation as the year has gone on, which is what is represented in the climograph. Also, we have had an abnormally warm year which can be verified by comparing this climograph to the actual data collected during the spring semester. You can see that in January the average temperature is usually about 10 degrees, and in April the average temperature is about 41 degrees. In January the temperatures were much warmer than that. In May it says the average temperature is around 55 degrees, and this year we have had average temperatures in the 60s for many of the days in May! It would be interesting to see charts of the last couple years to see if this is an abnormality, or if the climate seems to consistently be getting warmer.

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TEMPERATURE CHARTS

Here are some charts that show the temperature on each day during the months of January, 

February, and March. You can see that they all look similar, but as the months get later in the year the temperatures as a whole tend to rise. One thing I noticed that was interesting is that during the second week of each month (around the 11th) it appears as though the temperatures get cooler. I am wondering what causes this. 

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WIND DIRECTION CHARTS

Here are wind direction charts of January-present. It shows which direction our wind normally comes from-which can then be compared to general climate conditions. If we are reciving winds from the south &/or east we are probably going to see trends of higher rainfall in that month, whereas if we are receiving wind from the north for multiple days we will be seeing cooler temperatures. For example, the most recent pie chart shows that we have had most of our wind direction coming from the east this month, this can be related to how much rainfall we have recieved. It has rained multiple days each week for the last few weeks, probably largely due to the fact that we have been receiving eastern winds which carry warm, moist, air with them.

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CLIMOGRAPH ANALYSIS

One thing that I have noticed is that precipitation and temperature seem to correspond. The climographs show that in months when it is warmer, such as July and August, there are higher temperatures & precipitation, respectively. I think that this is due to what causes precipitation-which is east/southeast winds that bring moisture from the Maritime Tropical air mass up to the Midwest which causes warmer temperatures as well as greater amounts of precipitation.

-->This can be related to the things I have seen and written about this semester. In months where it was colder we seemed to have more wind coming from the north/northwest, which not only explains why it was cooler in temperature (because of the Cp and artctic air mass winds we were receiving) but also why we had less rainfall (because we weren't receiving the warm, moist air necessary to create rain).

I have also noticed that in general, it seems that each month has more occurrences of winds coming from the east/south east which make sense because on the climographs it shows that in warmer months there is more precipitation, which relates to the pie charts that show that in warmer months we have more wind coming from the east.

I also noticed that it is common in summer months to have between 4 and 4.5 inches of rainfall, and that is consistent across all of the climographs. In the winter, on the other hand, we tend to have less than 2 inches of rainfall. At first I thought this was strange, because of all the snow we get, but then I realized the data I have was labeled rainfall-which could be specific to just rain.

-->another thing I noticed about the climographs in relation the weather patterns that I saw throughout the semester is that in general we had more precipitation and warmer temeratures. It was an abnormally warm season this past year-and I would really like to know why! In class we discussed the jet stream path and how that can affect how warm or cold the weather is. I believe that the jet stream must have been further north than usual which would have blocked us from the Cp and arctic air masses, and allowed us to be provided with air from the warmer air masses such as Ct and Mt.