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Temperatures Near the Ground


ahosey01

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The crazy weather in my yard has really got me thinking and wondering more about weather than I ever had before.

The front yard is a consistent 5-7 degrees warmer than the back yard.  However, the back yard sits maybe 10ft lower than the front yard.  Is it the difference in elevation that accounts for that temperature variation, or something else?

Also, just how much warmer is the air above the ground at - say - 10ft or 20ft or 30ft?

I’m highly curious.

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Yes, the changes in air temperature due to elevation differences throughout your yard are normal. The low areas will be significantly colder than higher areas on the slope.

I don't know about the temperatures at 10ft, 20 ft, or 30 ft as it pertains to this question. I think the air temperature is usually measured at 4ft.

Edited by amh
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What directions do your front and back yards face?

South? North? In my area a slight elevation gain wont make too much of a difference for temerature, but my backyard faces south and stays 5+ degrees warmer at night, whereas my front yard faces North and is shaded most of the winter.

I figure the ground out back is able to absorb more heat from the sun and slowly release it overnight. 

Makes for a nice microclimate. 

 

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On 12/12/2020 at 1:34 PM, ColdBonsai said:

What directions do your front and back yards face?

South? North? In my area a slight elevation gain wont make too much of a difference for temerature, but my backyard faces south and stays 5+ degrees warmer at night, whereas my front yard faces North and is shaded most of the winter.

I figure the ground out back is able to absorb more heat from the sun and slowly release it overnight. 

Makes for a nice microclimate. 

 

The backyard faces east, but I’m almost positive it’s got to do with the elevation.  Reason I say that is because the back patio, which also faces east, is about 10ft above the lowest part of the yard.  The back patio might be a degree or two colder than the front yard (30 vs. 32) but the lowest part of the yard will be 24-26.

Its only 9:40 this evening and the front yard is down to 36. Curious what will happen tonight.

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Official Met recordings for max and min are taken in a Stevenson Screen with the instruments at 4' ( 1.2m ) above the ground. 
Using the Australian central desert town of Alice Springs as an example, the Aussie BOM issues a minor frost risk at about 40f, a medium frost risk at about 35-36f and a high risk at 32f.
So basically, ice on the grass is possible at 40f  ( 5c ) @ 4' ( 1.2m ).

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I forgot to mention the obvious; cooler air is more dense and will fill the low areas displacing warmer air.

This will be very noticeable in dry areas with little to no wind.

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5 minutes ago, amh said:

I forgot to mention the obvious; cooler air is more dense and will fill the low areas displacing warmer air.

This will be very noticeable in dry areas with little to no wind.

This makes sense.  The disparity is the most noticeable on still evenings with a near-0 or below-0 dew point.  Biggest difference I have seen so far was 8 degrees.

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Interestingly enough, I haven't been measuring the disparity in the warmest part of the day - mostly because I haven't thought to.  I did today, though, and it was 63 in the back yard - warmer than the front yard at 61.

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4 minutes ago, ahosey01 said:

Interestingly enough, I haven't been measuring the disparity in the warmest part of the day - mostly because I haven't thought to.  I did today, though, and it was 63 in the back yard - warmer than the front yard at 61.

I think daytime warm air areas would be on the low end of the slope, basically the inverse of the night time conditions.

I'm not a meteorologist, so take my responses with a grain of salt.

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