Sunday, June 24, 2012

Impressive Diurnal Temperature Swings

The very dry air coupled with the strong summer sun and generally light winds are leading to a very large range in temperatures in  most of the valleys of Western Wyoming and surrounding areas.  Near freezing at sunrise in some of the colder valley locations such as Thayne and Bondurant experience rises of 50 or more degrees by high noon.  Here is a graphic of the past couple days from  Bondurant, Thayne ES and Etna ES stations.

 Bondurant WY

Thayne Elementary School    

Etna Elementary School  

In contrast in higher elevations above the valley inversions, the day to night temperatures are much less.  A good example is from the Pine Creek Pass  south of Driggs ID at  7300 feet elevation.  The graph of the past couple days are in sharp contrast to the above valley locations.

Pine Creek Pass Station    

The Riverton Upper Air Sounding  from Sunday morning June 24 2012, shows the very dry air mass that supports these large diurnal temperature swings.


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