Many people confuse weather and climate but they are different. Weather is the conditions of the atmosphere over a short period of time, and climate is how the atmosphere is over long periods of time. Weather is how the atmosphere is behaving and its effects upon life and human activities. Weather can change from minute-to-minute. Most people think of weather in terms of temperature, humidity, precipitation, cloudiness, brightness, visibility, wind, and atmospheric pressure.
Climate is the description of the long-term pattern of weather in a place. Climate can mean the average weather for a particular region and time period taken over 30 years. Climate is the average of weather over time. Start Your Review of Missouri. Members receive 10 FREE city profile downloads a month, unlimited access to our detailed cost of living calculator and analysis, unlimited access to our DataEngine, and more.
Enhanced Cost of Living Calculator Now includes childcare, taxes, health, housing for home owners vs renters, insurance costs and more when you upgrade to premium. Log In Sign Up. Missouri lies in the Tornado Alley of America, and summers are prone to tornadoes. Hailstorms are common and destroy crops. Wear a rain jacket or carry an umbrella.
Avoid outdoor explorations in the afternoon when the chances of storms are the highest of the day. Expect rain and shine to alternate in June in Missouri. July is by far the hottest and sunniest month of the year in Missouri , with occasional instances of extreme rainfall.
The precipitation is to the tune of 4" Summer is the peak tourist season with camping, fishing, biking, and trailing gaining momentum. The sun is scorching and shines for at least 10 hours a day. The sunny days witness crowds at the lake and river beaches. Sun goggles and sunscreen are handy to combat the blazing sun in July in Missouri. August is a hot and humid month in the summer season of Missouri. Sunny days with clear skies dominate the monthly weather along with periodic bursts of rain.
Nights are comfortable with a significant variation from the day temperatures. Sweatshirts and t-shirts are the best clothes to beat the heat and humidity. Swimming holes are full of visitors wanting to share the calm waters. The landscape is fascinating as far as the eye can reach with blossoming flowers amid a blanket of greenery. Precipitation slows down considerably by the end of August. Expect the temperature to decrease by the end of summer steadily. Tornadoes occasionally strike Missouri in August, but the storm season tapers off by the end of summer.
September is one of the best times to visit Missouri with pleasant conditions that see blue skies, comfortable temperatures, and moderate rain. The landscape adorns beautiful colors all over the prairie and the rolling hills. Northern Missouri is cooler than the rest of the state, with warm days and comfortable nights. Fall days range from partly cloudy to mostly sunny, with breezy evenings and wonderful mornings. Biking and trailing is a great way to experience the beauty of the changing colors.
Leaves turn color by mid-September in many areas, including the hardwoods in the Ozark region. September is enjoyable with plenty of festivals amid mild weather in Missouri. The rainfall registers between 3" A light jacket keeps the wind and breeze at bay during the evenings. October brings pleasant temperatures and beautiful colors to Missouri in the middle of the autumn season. The fall foliage is at its peak, and the vibrant colors range from orange and red to yellow and golden.
The end of the harvest season is a time for festivities in the mild autumn weather. An odd year may see the first snowflakes in the state by the last week of October.
The rainfall rarely exceeds 4" For both spring and fall, the higher elevation of the Ozarks interrupts the north-south gradient across Missouri. The growing season in the Ozarks is measurably shorter than in adjacent, lower regions.
The metropolitan areas of St. Louis and Kansas City exert a significant and measurable effect on their climates. Somewhat cloudier skies and more hours of very light precipitation may result, although the total amount of precipitation may not be greater than in non-metropolitan areas.
Seasonal climatic variations are more complex. In northwestern Missouri, seasonality in precipitation is very pronounced due to strong continental influences. June precipitation, for example, averages five times greater than January precipitation. In contrast, in southeastern Missouri, seasonality in precipitation is insignificant due to the greater influence of subtropical air masses throughout the year.
Mean January precipitation varies along the gradient from a low of 0. However, mean July precipitation is greatest in northeastern Missouri, largely the result of high-intensity convectional precipitation 4. Though much less precipitation falls in northern Missouri in the winter than in the summer, it tends to be seasonally effective precipitation, since temperature and evaporation rates are much lower in winter.
Snow has been known to fall in Missouri as early as October, and as late as May. However, most of it falls in December, January, and February. As one would expect, the northern counties usually get the most snow. North of the Missouri River the winter snowfall averages 18 to 24 inches. This average figure tapers off to 8 to 12 inches in the southernmost counties. It is unusual for snow to stay on the ground for more than a week or two before it melts.
Winter precipitation usually is in the form of rain, or snow, or both. Conditions sometimes are on the borderline between rain and snow, and in these situations freezing drizzle or freezing rain occurs. This does not usually happen more than five times in a winter season.
Spring, summer, and early fall precipitation comes largely in the form of showers or thunderstorms. Thunderstorms have been observed in Missouri during the winter months, but they are most frequent from April to July. Hail also occurs in all regions and may occur throughout the year, but it is much less likely in winter. May has the greatest number of days with hail.
Measurable precipitation occurs on an average of about days a year. About half of these will be days with thunderstorms. Occasionally, these produce some very heavy rains. All of Missouri experiences "extreme" climate events, and such events must be considered part of the normal climate. Among these extreme climatic events are high-intensity rains, protracted drought, heat waves and cold waves, ice storms, windstorms, and tornadoes. These climatic events, in turn, may lead to other environmental disturbances such as floods, fires, landslides, and abrupt changes in plant and animal populations and distributions.
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 St. Louis experiences significant seasonal variation over the course of the year. The windier part of the year lasts for 7. The windiest month of the year in St. Louis is March , with an average hourly wind speed of 9.
The calmer time of year lasts for 4. The calmest month of the year in St. Louis is August , with an average hourly wind speed of 5. The wind is most often from the west for 1. To characterize how pleasant the weather is in St. Louis throughout the year, we compute two travel scores. Based on this score, the best times of year to visit St. Louis for general outdoor tourist activities are from late May to early July and from late July to late September , with a peak score in the first week of September.
Based on this score, the best time of year to visit St. Louis for hot-weather activities is from mid June to late August , with a peak score in the last week of July. For each hour between AM and PM of each day in the analysis period to , independent scores are computed for perceived temperature, cloud cover, and total precipitation. Those scores are combined into a single hourly composite score, which is then aggregated into days, averaged over all the years in the analysis period, and smoothed.
Our cloud cover score is 10 for fully clear skies, falling linearly to 9 for mostly clear skies, and to 1 for fully overcast skies. Our precipitation score , which is based on the three-hour precipitation centered on the hour in question, is 10 for no precipitation, falling linearly to 9 for trace precipitation, and to 0 for 0.
The growing season in St. Louis typically lasts for 6. 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. Based on growing degree days alone, the first spring blooms in St. Louis should appear around March 16 , only rarely appearing before March 1 or after April 4.
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 experiences significant seasonal variation over the course of the year. The brighter period of the year lasts for 4.
The brightest month of the year in St. Louis is July , with an average of 6. The darker period of the year lasts for 3. The darkest month of the year in St. Louis is December , with an average of 2.
For the purposes of this report, the geographical coordinates of St. Louis are The topography within 2 miles of St. Louis contains only modest variations in elevation, with a maximum elevation change of feet and an average elevation above sea level of feet.
Within 10 miles also contains only modest variations in elevation feet. Within 50 miles contains only modest variations in elevation feet. The area within 2 miles of St.
This report illustrates the typical weather in St. Louis, based on a statistical analysis of historical hourly weather reports and model reconstructions from January 1, to December 31, There are 3 weather stations near enough to contribute to our estimation of the temperature and dew point in St.
0コメント