Data Analysis

The four graphs above are line graphs showing the daily high, low and mean temperature value in degrees C for each month from January through April. The data for these graphs came from the instruments on the roof of the Phillips building on UWEC campus. Since the values are recorded for each individual day, as opposed to an average over time, the graphs vary in value significantly over the course of the month. It does however help when looking back to help pinpoint when certain weather systems moved through the area and correlate them to changes in temperature.

The four bar graphs above show the amount of rain received daily for the months of January through April 2013. This data was also collected on the roof of Phillips on UWEC campus. The months of January through March did not show much rainfall, with the exception of a couple days with significant rainfall. This was due to the fact that these months were dominated by below freezing temperatures, meaning that most precipitation came in the form of snow instead of rain and were not recorded. April on the other hand shows rainfall for more than half of the days in the month. The fact that the graphs show daily values makes them easy to compare to the temperature graphs that also have daily values. Though it does not seem that there is much correlation between temperature and rainfall in April, we can see that the rain in the other months corresponds with days with temperatures in above the freezing mark.

The last set of graphs I made using the weather station data from the roof of Phillips was pie charts showing the daily wind directions for each month. For these pie charts each color corresponds to a certain wind direction. The dominant wind direction was recorded for each day and then the number of days with a certain dominant wind direction were added up. As with all pie charts, the larger slices mean more days with that dominant wind direction. The majority dominant wind direction for all months was from some sort of westerly direction, which is to be expected. Wind directions from the east often mean precipitation whereas west winds are the normal direction when there are no significant weather systems moving through our area.

The graphs for the school data seem to show a lot of irregularities from one part of the month to the next. Overall they follow the trend you would expect, which is rising temperature over time. But there are significant anomalies on certain days or groups of days in the winter, whether it be warm or cold. The climographs aren’t the same with irregularities because there is such a large data sample that they get smoothed out, not to mention that they are monthly and not daily. The wind charts are surprisingly consistent over the four months. Rainfall data is sporadic in the winter months due to freezing temperatures, with much more rain falling in April. Overall, looking at daily data can show large anomalies with the presence of certain atmospheric conditions, which can help one to assess weather patterns. The long term data of the climographs on the other hand help assess climate trends over time rather than weather events and trends

Above is a map of the University of Wisconsin- Eau Claire campus. Scattered throughout the map are points taken by the class. The class was split into 5 groups, each group went out at the same time to collect 50 data points each. Each data point collected temperature, wind speed and direction, dew point and notes on the point. The combination of the entire class' data is virtually useless due to the fact that the data was collected on different days and at different times of the day for all of the groups. Weather can change drastically in a small period of time, so any differences in the time that the data was collected will cause the data to be unusable for studying microclimate or temperature distribution. 

Above is a map that show the results of a Kriging program performed in ArcMap on the temperature data collected during the microclimate exercise for group 4. This program is an algorithm that uses the data to predict the values for the areas that don't have points. Now, instead of a bunch of points there is a raster image that covers all of campus instead of just the few points that the group took. The red areas are the warmest while the blue are the coldest. 

The map above shows the results of the Kriging program on the dew point of campus. The red shows the highest dew point temperatures while blue shows the lowest. The higher the dew point, the more moisture is present in the air. It is probably not a coincidence that the highest dew points are along the Chippewa River.

The above map shows the results of the Kriging program on dew point depression, or the difference between temperature and dew point, for campus. Red is the largest difference and blue is the lowest. the largest amount of dew point depression seems to be throughout lower campus and the lowest near the river and the open area of upper campus.

The map above shows the results of the Kriging program on wind speed. Blue is lowest, up to red being the highest speeds. There is also symbols showing the speed and direction of the wind at each recorded point for the microclimate data for group 4.

The above map shows the wind speed and direction recorded during the microclimate exercise for group 4. The symbols show the wind direction with the tail showing the direction the wind came from. Yellow is for the lowest winds, orange for stronger and red for the strongest winds.

Above is a graduated symbols map of the wind speed recorded during the microclimate exercise for group 4. The highest winds, shown with the largest circles, seem to be in open areas. Examples include the foot bridge and next to the river as well as streets.

The map above shows dew point represented with graduated symbols. Dew point is a representation of the amount of water vapor contained in the air. The highest dew points are shown along the river with the largest circles.

Above is a graduated symbols map of the temperatures recorded during the microclimate exercise for group 4. The larger symbols represent higher temps while the smaller represent lower temps. Most of campus appears to be about the same temperature but anomalies do occur in certain areas. 

This is a map that I made of surface weather conditions. The symbols on the map show wind speed and direction, with the flag end of the symbol showing the direction the wind is coming from. The map was made in ArcMap and the data was brought in from the internet.