Reviews for Futar: Becoming - FictionPress.com

achtungshebazz
2002-02-14
ch 1,

abuseYOU'RE FIRED!!!!!!
Geography Investigation
- WHAT FACTORS INFLUENCE CLIMATE? -

Introduction

I shall be investigating the climate of Skipton, WA and the climate of Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, a city in the West Canadian prairies on the same latitude (53°N). The purpose of this is to compare the two climates and see if and how they differ, and more importantly why they differ. For the purpose of this investigation Edmonton’s 600m altitude and Skipton’s 150m altitude will not be a factor as temperatures will be reduced to sea-level values.

I shall be doing this by collecting data for temperatures, rainfall, sunshine hours and pressure both at the school weather station in Skipton, and the Edmonton data will be collected using several appropriate sites on the Internet. The data will be set over a one month time period. After retrieving the data I shall then analyze it in a series of graphs and tables.

Further to this, I shall be investigating how weather differs in two places with contrasting climates, should I discover that the climate of Skipton differs with that of Edmonton, and more importantly, why.

The month chosen was December, chosen not only because it suited the timing of my project but also because I believe that the climate of Skipton and Edmonton should be at their most contrasting in winter which would give me an opportunity into going into detail about what makes the climates different, should the data prove there is a definite contrast.

Data was taken at both sites for:
Daily minimum temperature
Daily maximum temperature
Average atmospheric pressure
Precipitation

Skipton’s readings were taken personally at the Ermysted’s weather station and Edmonton’s were acquired from Environment Canada’s official web site at: http://www.weatheroffice.ec.gc.ca/scripts/citygen.pl?client=ECCDN_e&city=YXD

Readings were also taken for sunshine hours at Skipton by measuring the cloud cover at 0800 and 2000 in octas then converting that into a sunshine hours total for the month using the formula I devised myself: H=31(6.5[8-X/8])
H in this formula stands for total sunshine hours, 31 is the amount of days in the month of December, 6.5 is the average hours of daylight in December minus half-an-hour for both sunrise and sunset, as sunshine-hours recorders-do not include these in their readings. X is the average cloud cover for each day. The equivalent data for Edmonton was collected at the website at the end of the month, having been measured by a sunshine hours recorder.

Those specific features of weather were used because they are the most recognizeable constituents of weather and the constituents which I believe are interlinked, which will help me explain if, and how, the weather of Edmonton differs from Skipton, and more importantly why.

I expect that Edmonton shall be drier, sunnier and colder than Skipton because it is 1000km from the nearest coast (Pacific Ocean) and moisture blown onshore by westerly winds will struggle to reach that far inland. However I do predict that Edmonton shall be snowier, due to the low temperatures causing an accumulation of snow over the winter. I believe that as land is quicker to cool down in winter than the sea, (In AQ coastal waters the water is at its coldest ten weeks after the winter solstice, whereas the land is at its coldest five weeks after the solstice), the month of December should be cold as the continental placement of the city means it has little to warm it up in the winter.

An additional factor is the prevailing wind. In Skipton the winds commonly are from the mild, ‘tropical-maritime’ Southwest, whereas in Edmonton they are from the West and the cold Rocky Mountain range. Most moisture carried on these winds will fall over the mountains as snow, on skiing resorts such as Whistler and Banff.

Date Skipton Min. Skipton Max. Edmonton Min. Edmonton Max.
1 2 14 -19.1 -11.0
2 -1 6 -19.6 -10.6
3 -1 9 -15.1 -10.6
4 4 9 -17.9 -9.6
5 3 10 -19.8 -11.0
6 -2 6 -22.2 -13.3
7 5 9 -18.1 -8.4
8 0 12 -11.8 -1.7
9 -3 2 -2.6 6.5
10 -1 2 -7.8 2.8
11 -2 9 -12.8 -6.6
12 -2 13 -14.0 -9.7
13 4 7 -10.6 -3.4
14 -2 6 -9.1 -0.1
15 -2 7 -10.0 -5.0
16 1 7 -11.1 -1.9
17 -1 5 -9.8 -0.1
18 3 6 -7.3 5.2
19 1 6 -12.7 -1.9
20 -2 6 -12.0 -2.4
21 -1 7 -14.6 -5.8
22 -2 2 -18.1 -8.2
23 -3 7 -17.1 -4.9
24 7 8 -16.7 -4.3
25 -3 7 -13.2 -5.8
26 -5 2 -8.6 0.2
27 2 7 -12.6 -3.0
28 -1 7 -15.4 -6.8
29 -2 2 -17.8 -11.6
30 -3 3 -17.4 -10.8
31 -6 2 -22.6 -16.4
Average -0.4 6.8 -14.1 -5.5
3.2 -9.8

As I have found, the average temperature in Edmonton is far colder than that in Skipton. The average temperature in Skipton is +3.2 C, whereas Edmonton has an average of –9.8 C. This agrees with my prediction. The diurnal range is also larger (7.2 C in Skipton and 8.6 C in Edmonton).

As the results show, in December Edmonton is nearly always frozen, with frosts occurring on every day and the average daytime temperature far below zero. The continental placement allows a more extreme range of temperature, going from –22.6C as the coldest, to +6.5C as the warmest – a range of 28.7C. The widest range in Skipton was 20C, with a maximum of 14 C and a minimum of –6 C. Although Skipton received 20 frosts during the month, and the average minimum temperature in Skipton was below zero, the maxima were all above it, as was the overall average.

The results obtained for Edmonton were, on average, 0.6 C warmer than the long-term average, and the Skipton results were 0.1 C colder, but still the overall conclusion is that Skipton temperatures are milder than Edmonton temperatures in December.

I predict Skipton to be wetter and have more precipitation than Edmonton because its closer proximity to the sea, and its susceptibility to prevailing SW winds bringing in moisture from the mild **!, which is warmed by the Gulf Stream and the North Atlantic Drift. However I expect the persistent sub-zero temperatures in Edmonton to enable long-term accumulation of snow, leading to a sizeable cover by the end of the month. As snowfall in WAAAAAA is irregular and unreliable, due to most of our precipitation traditionally falling as rain, this is the basis for my prediction of Edmonton being a snowier city.

Date Skipton Precipitation (mm) Edmonton Precipitation (mm)
1 1 0.5
2 0 0.5
3 2 0
4 6.4 0
5 9.9 0
6 0.5 0
7 2.5 0
8 0 0.5
9 0 0
10 0.3 0
11 0 0
12 0.3 0
13 0 0
14 0 0.5
15 0 0
16 0.5 0.5
17 0.3 0.5
18 0.3 0.5
19 0.3 0.5
20 0.3 0
21 5.8 0
22 0.3 0
23 1.5 0
24 1.3 0
25 1.0 0
26 0.3 0.5
27 4.8 0
28 2.8 0
29 0 0
30 0 0
31 0.3 0
Total 42.7 4.5

The figures for December indicate that Edmonton is extremely dry and Skipton less so. These figures, although the true values, cannot be taken too seriously as the 4.5mm precipitation (all of which fell as snow), makes up only 36% of the average precipitation. Even Skipton received only 45% its usual precipitation of 90mm. It was the driest December for nine years.

Even though December 2001 was not a typical month in either location, it is fair to deduce that Edmonton’s Decembers are drier than Skipton’s – nine times drier in 2001, but only seven times drier on average.

From the table it can be deduced that Edmonton had approximately 25 days of snow cover, whereas from personal observations Skipton had only 7 days, between the 21st and 23rd, then from the 27th to the end of the month. However, at the end of the month, there was approximately 6cm of lying snow in Skipton, whereas following the thaw of snow on the 9th and 10th of the month, only 3cm of snow would have been lying in Edmonton – far less than the 26cm which is expected at that time of year. Although, once again, December 2001 proved to be an unusual month, it is evident that Edmonton is normally a drier, yet snowier place in December than Skipton.

With the precipitation being more abundant in Skipton than Edmonton, one would expect Skipton to be a cloudier place with less sunshine. This would also explain the higher diurnal range, as heat is more readily lost at night when there is less cloud to re-radiate it. I have already shown that the diurnal range was larger in Edmonton than Skipton in December 2001. More sunshine would normally be associated with high pressure, so I am predicting Edmonton to have a higher average pressure.

Date Skipton Pressure Edmonton Pressure Skipton Average Cloud Cover
1 1010 991 5
2 1021 1008 5
3 1008 1007 7
4 1004 1008 5
5 1013 1010 5
6 1026 1018 5
7 1031 1022 6
8 1035 1005 1
9 1036 1011 1
10 1037 1008 0
11 1038 1015 0
12 1035 1006 3
13 1035 1000 8
14 1038 987 6
15 1038 1005 8
16 1038 991 4
17 1039 1004 5
18 1035 1014 8
19 1029 1012 6
20 1024 1023 6
21 1011 1018 2
22 1013 1021 1
23 1012 1027 8
24 999 1029 8
25 998 1030 1
26 1004 1029 7
27 997 1024 8
28 996 1027 5
29 997 1036 3
30 1009 1032 2
31 1026 1033 1
Average/Total 1020 1015 108

The findings here are quite surprising. Contrary to my predictions, Edmonton had on average, lower pressure than Skipton, as a result of an anticyclone over Skipton remaining in place for over two weeks in the middle of the month. The total of 108 octas of cloud cover, of a maximum 248, equates, when put into the formula H=31(6.5[8-X/8]) to 87.5 hours of sunshine during December:
31 (6.5[8-3.5/8]) = 31 x 2.65 = 87.5 hours

87.5 hours of sunshine is twice the normal of 43 hours, as December 2001 was the sunniest December on record – mostly the result of persistent anticyclonic conditions emanating from the east, a dry direction in winter. It averages out at 2.65 hours per day. The equivalent figure for Edmonton was 108 hours, 37% above average, or 3.6 hours per day from a possible 6.5 hours.

As both places were sunnier than average during December of that particular year, it is necessary to use average values to make a conclusion that bit more trustworthy and reliable. The average total for Skipton is 43 hours, whereas in Edmonton it is 79 hours, almost twice as much. This surplus of sunshine comes about largely due to YOU BEING FFFFFIIIIIIIIIRRRRRRREEEEEDDDDDDDDD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! IT'S DAMN TRUE!!!!! AXE = MISTER AXE!!!!!

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