Pine Springs, Texas | |
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Coordinates: 31°53′33″N104°48′56″W / 31.89250°N 104.81556°W | |
Country | United States |
State | Texas |
County | Culberson |
Elevation | 5,633 ft (1,717 m) |
Population (2000) | |
• Total | 51 |
Time zone | UTC-7 (Mountain (MST)) |
• Summer (DST) | UTC-6 (MDT) |
GNIS feature ID | 1380360 [1] |
Pine Springs is an unincorporated community in northern Culberson County, Texas, United States. It is the closest settlement to the headquarters of Guadalupe Mountains National Park, which contains Guadalupe Peak, the highest point in the state of Texas. Pine Springs is located on U.S. Routes 62 and 180. The last census counted 51 residents. [2]
Pine Springs experiences a semi-arid climate with hot summers and cool winters. Pine Springs is located at the base of the Guadalupe Mountains, at a higher elevation than most of the Chihuahuan Desert. As a result, Pine Springs is substantially cooler and receives more precipitation than the vast majority of the desert. Due to Pine Springs' elevation and aridity, temperatures drop sharply after sunset. Most precipitation falls in the summer and early fall, as thunderstorms sweep across the desert. Bitterly cold temperatures close to zero are rare, but can occur in winter months.
Temperatures and the likelihood of precipitation both tend to increase as Spring progresses. Rapid and substantial swings in temperature, associated with wind shifts and the passage of weather fronts, are common through the Spring, with hot daytime temperatures possible as early as the month of March, and freezing cold nighttime temperatures possible as late as the month of May.
In late May or early June, the weather stabilizes for the summer, and remains so until the passage of the first cold front, usually in September. Most precipitation occurs in the summer months, in the form of fast moving and short lived thunderstorms. Days are dry and hot, although temperatures are not as extreme as in the lower areas of the Chihuahuan Desert. Summer nights are comfortably cool, and cool breezes often gently blow across the desert after dark.
Fall begins with the passage of the first cold front from the north, often in late September or early October. After the last of the summer thunderstorms, usually in August or September, fall is dry. As the season progresses, the weather alternates between warm periods where the wind is predominantly from the south, and cold periods of increasing severity as cold fronts move down from the north. The first frost may be as early as late September, or as late as early December.
Winter consists of alternating periods of warm and cold weather. Winter days are usually mild, sometimes even warm, but nighttime temperatures often fall below freezing. Due to Pine Springs' low latitude, prolonged, severe cold is rare. While the day and night after the passage of a strong cold front from the north might see bitterly cold weather, temperatures rapidly warm afterwards. Light snowfall after the passage of a strong cold front is occasional during winter months, but snow usually melts quickly. Heavy snowfall is extremely rare in Pine Springs.
Climate data for Pine Springs, Texas | |||||||||||||
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Month | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | Year |
Record high °F (°C) | 74 (23) | 76 (24) | 83 (28) | 90 (32) | 97 (36) | 105 (41) | 103 (39) | 97 (36) | 96 (36) | 90 (32) | 82 (28) | 73 (23) | 105 (41) |
Mean daily maximum °F (°C) | 53.7 (12.1) | 56.0 (13.3) | 62.7 (17.1) | 70.2 (21.2) | 78.5 (25.8) | 87.1 (30.6) | 86.2 (30.1) | 84.1 (28.9) | 79.0 (26.1) | 71.9 (22.2) | 60.9 (16.1) | 53.2 (11.8) | 70.3 (21.3) |
Mean daily minimum °F (°C) | 31.7 (−0.2) | 34.7 (1.5) | 39.0 (3.9) | 46.3 (7.9) | 55.6 (13.1) | 62.5 (16.9) | 63.4 (17.4) | 62.4 (16.9) | 57.5 (14.2) | 48.9 (9.4) | 39.1 (3.9) | 31.1 (−0.5) | 47.7 (8.7) |
Record low °F (°C) | 4 (−16) | 3 (−16) | 9 (−13) | 19 (−7) | 31 (−1) | 43 (6) | 50 (10) | 49 (9) | 33 (1) | 18 (−8) | 15 (−9) | 0 (−18) | 0 (−18) |
Average precipitation inches (mm) | 0.69 (18) | 0.80 (20) | 0.65 (17) | 0.66 (17) | 1.05 (27) | 1.62 (41) | 3.25 (83) | 3.62 (92) | 2.65 (67) | 1.58 (40) | 0.74 (19) | 0.97 (25) | 18.29 (465) |
Average snowfall inches (cm) | 1.2 (3.0) | 0.5 (1.3) | 0.4 (1.0) | 0.2 (0.51) | 0.0 (0.0) | 0.0 (0.0) | 0.0 (0.0) | 0.0 (0.0) | 0.0 (0.0) | 0.0 (0.0) | 0.2 (0.51) | 2.2 (5.6) | 4.8 (12) |
Source: The Western Regional Climate Center [3] |
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The climate of Salt Lake City, Utah features cold and snowy winters, hot and dry summers, and modest to light seasonal rainfall. Lying in the Salt Lake Valley, the city is surrounded by mountains and the Great Salt Lake. Under the Köppen climate classification, Salt Lake City has either a Mediterranean climate (Csa) or dry-summer continental climate (Dsa) depending on which variant of the system is used, though it borders on a cold semi-arid climate (BSk) due to the city's relatively low precipitation.
The geography of Toronto, Ontario, covers an area of 630 km2 (240 sq mi) and is bounded by Lake Ontario to the south; Etobicoke Creek, Eglinton Avenue, and Highway 427 to the west; Steeles Avenue to the north; and the Rouge River and the Scarborough–Pickering Townline to the east. In addition to Etobicoke Creek and the Rouge River, the city is trisected by two minor rivers and their tributaries, the Humber River in the west end and the Don River east of downtown. Both flow southward to Lake Ontario at Humber Bay and Toronto Harbour respectively, which are part of the longer Waterfront, as well as Etobicoke Creek and the Rouge River.
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Oklahoma City lies in a temperate humid subtropical climate, with frequent variations in weather daily and seasonally, except during the consistently hot and humid summer months. Consistent winds, usually from the south or south-southeast during the summer, help temper the hotter weather. Consistent northerly winds during the winter can intensify cold periods. The normal annual mean temperature is 61.4 °F (16.3 °C); the coolest year was 1895 with a mean of 57.9 °F (14.4 °C), while the warmest 2012 at 64.1 °F (17.8 °C). Precipitation averages 36.52 inches (928 mm) annually, falling on an average 84 days, with the warmer months receiving more; annual precipitation has historically ranged from 15.74 in (400 mm) in 1901 to 56.95 in (1,447 mm) in 2007. The sun shines about 69% of the time, with monthly percent possible sunshine ranging from 60% in December to 80% in July.
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Dallas is located in North Texas, built along the Trinity River. It has a humid subtropical climate that is characteristic of the southern plains of the United States. Dallas experiences mild winters and hot summers.
The climate of Alaska is determined by average temperatures and precipitation received statewide over many years. The extratropical storm track runs along the Aleutian Island chain, across the Alaska Peninsula, and along the coastal area of the Gulf of Alaska which exposes these parts of the state to a large majority of the storms crossing the North Pacific. The climate in Juneau and the southeast panhandle is a mid-latitude oceanic climate, in the southern sections and a subarctic oceanic climate in the northern parts. The climate in Southcentral Alaska is a subarctic climate due to its short, cool summers. The climate of the interior of Alaska is best described as extreme and is the best example of a true subarctic climate, as the highest and lowest recorded temperatures in Alaska have both occurred in the interior. The climate in the extreme north of Alaska is an Arctic climate with long, cold winters, and cool summers where snow is possible year-round.
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