MONTHLY AVERAGES FOR CANNON BEACH

(degrees Fahrenheit for temperature, inches for precipitation)

Month              High Temperature            Low Temperature          Precipitation

January                        50                                          39                                    10.89

February                     52                                          38                                     8.75

March                          53                                           39                                     8.75

April                             55                                           41                                     5.91

May                              59                                           45                                     4.08

June                              61                                           50                                     3.10

July                               64                                            52                                    1.45

August                         65                                            53                                    1.39

September                 65                                            49                                    2.44

October                       60                                            45                                     6.52

November                  53                                            41                                   11.80

  

December                   49                                            37                                   10.55

Source: http://www.weather.com

Geebitt

Below are some examples of the dramatic temperature changes

just from slightly altering the earth’s albedo and greenhouse factor:

                        ALBEDO & RESULTING SURFACE TEMPERATURES

PLANET WITH SURFACE FEATURES AND NON-ABSORBING ATMOSPHERE

Degrees:                                                       Kelvin    Centigrade   Fahrenheit
ZERO = default setting                                  278.6         5.5                 41.9
(meaning all incoming solar radiation is absorbed  by planet’s surface)
When changed to 0.1                                    271.4        -1.8                 28.8

When changed to 0.2                                    263.5         -9.6                14.7

When changed to 0.5                                    234.3        -38.8              -37.9

When changed to 0.75                                  197.0        -76.1            -105.0

When changed to 1.00                                     0.00      -273.2           -459.7

(meaning all incoming solar radiation is reflected by planet’s surface)



GREENHOUSE FACTOR & RESULTING SURFACE TEMPERATURES
PLANET SURFACE FEATURES AND ABSORBING ATMOSPHERE
Note: Albedo reset to zero (default)

Degrees:                               Kelvin    Centigrade    Fahrenheit

ZERO = default setting         278.6            5.5                41.9

When changed to 0.1           283.0            9.9                49.8

When changed to 0.5           298.9           25.7                78.3

When changed to 1.0           315.7           42.5              108.5

When changed to 1.1           318.7           45.6               114.0

When changed to 1.2           321.7            48.5              119.4

This is an interesting website and although I did not post all the figures,

you can change the albedo and the greenhouse factor at the same time

or keep one constant and alter the other.

Either way, it is easy to see how small variations can have big effects.

Source: http://icp.giss.nasa.gov/education/geebitt

Weather & Climate - Blog #1

Cannon Beach, Oregon is located along the beautiful and rugged western Pacific coastline. There are two main weather stations, one in mid-town at 20 ft. elevation and one nearby at 25 ft. elevation.  For this project, we will be monitoring both along with several other websites to gather  current and historical weather/climate data. 

I have posted (see below) some graphs on the weather trends, but wanted to point out other interesting facts.  Although Cannon Beach does not have the highly variable temperatures as many inland locations, its' coastal location has helped to moderate and keep the weather patterns relatively consistent over time.  Historically, August has been the warmest and driest month of the year, December has been the coolest, and November has been the wettest. The highest recorded temperature was 105 degrees in July 1961, the lowest recorded temperature was 5 degrees in December 1972. 

The Bowen Ratio is a mathematical equation for calculating the ratio of heat energy used for sensible heating to heat energy used for latent heating.  Overall, globally the ratio is 0.96 for land and 0.11 for oceans.  Since Cannon Beach is a coastal, cool and wet region, the latent heat flux is more important for this area and the Bowen Ratio will be low similar to the ratio for the oceans, possibly around .15 to .20 maximum is my guess.

We also were instructed to experiment with Geebitt to determine the effect of increasing/decreasing the earth’s surface albedo and greenhouse factor.  I will post separately some of the resulting figures, but in summary for both factors when the numbers were even slightly changed the resulting temperature changes were very dramatic.  For my location, these temperature variations could cause rising sea levels, dramatic weather pattern changes, possible flooding or drought, and most likely have devastating results for the area’s animal and plant life.

Sources:
http://www.wunderground.com
http://icp.giss.nasa.gov/education/geebitt
http://www.wrcc.dri.edu/ams/glossary.html
http://www.mendeley.com/research/characteristics
http://www.city-data.com
http://en.wikipedia.org
http://www.weather.com
http://forecast.weather.gov
http://climate.fizber.com
http://userpages.umbc.edu

Cannon Beach Coastline

The pounding surf at the north end of Cannon Beach state park.
Source: http://yayyuh.blogspot.com

Haystack Rock & the Needles -Famous Landmark

This fantastic rock formation is located at Cannon Beach, Oregon. 
Haystack Rock, third-highest seastack on the planet at a height of 235 feet, enjoys wilderness status as part of the Oregon Islands National Wildlife Refuge and thus is off-limits to climbing.
Go Northwest! photo by Danny Eden

Climate for Cannon Beach, Oregon from www.city-data.com

Average climate in Cannon Beach, Oregon

Based on data reported by over 4,000 weather stations

Read more: http://www.city-data.com/city/Cannon-Beach-Oregon.html#ixzz1oUvPGQPJ