IEM Daily Feature
Friday, 20 December 2019

40 is like 90

Posted: 20 Dec 2019 05:34 AM

Temperatures on Thursday were in the 40s for the snow free portion of the state, which is all but the far northwestern part of Iowa. Having 40+ degrees this time of year can be considered warm, but warm is a relative term. The featured chart presents a statistical comparison of daily high temperatures for Ames for the months of July and December. The left hand chart is a quantile / quantile plot which allows for direct comparison between temperatures from each month. Having a 40 degree high in December is equivalent in frequency to a 90 degree high during July. Such a temperature in July would be considered hot by many, so perhaps we should consider our current weather as hot as well! The right hand plot shows the distribution of temperatures for each month and the extreme tails of the two populations only barely touch!

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