Jack Aubert's question was recently posed by our local media metrologist. The answer is that the daily temperature peaks between 4 and 5 PM on average in the summer for this area of Alberta Canada . There are a number of factors influencing this.
Latitude: At 51 N, the July days are long (over 16 hours of sunshine). Longitude: At 115 W, solar noon is at 1:40 PM shifting everything to later in the day. Altitude: At over 4500 ft (1500 m) the air is thinner and drier resulting in significant day time insolation and night time radiation. Continental Climate: No oceans moderate our climate. All of these factors mean the daily temperature changes are typically 15 C or almost 30 F. Typically it is 10 to 12 c (50 to 55 F) at night and 21 to 28 C (70 to 82 F) in the afternoon but last week I saw snow and frost on my deck in the morning and over 28 C (82 F)in the late afternoon sunshine. Mountain weather is wacky so this is not a general solution to the question posed. Canadian's are good at weather trivia. We see lots of it. Roger Bailey >At 10:06 PM 7/19/99 -0400, Jack Aubert wrote: >Well, this is a perfect lead-in to something I've been wondering about. >What, exactly, is the relationship between the ambient temperature and time >of day. I have the subjective impression that the hottest time of day in >the summer is around 3 PM -- 2 hours after the sun crosses the zenith, >leaving aside the effect of one's longitudinal location in the time zone. > >I looked around on the Internet for an answer but couldn't find anything. >All one would have to do is plot the daily temprature against time, but I >wonder if the relationship is the same at all latitudes and if it's >constant throughout the year. > > >
