Syracuse Hancock International Airport is the weather station in which the weather data for Syracuse is acquired and is located in
Syracuse, New York which is situated at the geographic center of the state. The
area is surrounded by hills and plains with the city sitting on the south of
Onondaga Lake; Lake Ontario can be found to the north and the Finger Lakes to
the southwest. The elevation of Syracuse ranges between 364 and 681 with hilly
terrains reaching from about 500 to 800 feet and some large hills reaching
1500.
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The city of Syracuse experiences a humid climate with large
seasonal and diurnal changes due to continental climate patterns with summer
temperatures rising rapidly during the day to reach modest highs and fall just
as quickly once the sun sets. During the winter the area is affected by “Lake
Effect Snow” from Lake Ontario as winds become saturated as they blow over the
lake which then deposits in the form of snow over the area, with an average
snowfall amount of a little bit over 100 inches. January and December receive the highest amounts of snowfall which is generally an average of 30 inches. Syracuse experiences about 30
thunderstorms per year on average, typically during the summer.
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| Monthly average snowfall in Syracuse, NY. Photo from www.city-data.com |
The monthly
average temperatures for Syracuse range from the lows of 10-20̊
Fahrenheit to the 30’s throughout the day in the wintertime to lows in the 60’s
and highs in the 80’s for the summer (see graph). The coldest month of the year
is typically January with the warmest temperatures occurring in July. Syracuse
typically receives a well dispersed amount of precipitation throughout the
course of the year, with about three inches on average per month and July being
the month with the most amount of rainfall received. The precipitation is
caused by cyclonic storms that pass through St. Lawrence Valley from the United
States interior.
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| Average temperature range, photo from www.rssweather.com |
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| Average monthly precipitation, photo from www.rssweather.com |
The
estimated Bowen Ratio for this area would be relatively low, maybe between 0.5
and 0.6 as oceans are 0.1 and the United States is 0.74. The sensible heat flux
for Syracuse would be low because due to the humidity levels and current level
of saturation of the air, there is minimal evaporative potential. With limited
evaporative potential, there would be no evaporation which means there would be
little to no heat exchange. The latent heat flux would be high in this case as the
air saturation point is high, allowing for condensation of water vapor into the
formation of clouds, adding heat to the atmosphere.
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