| SAN FRANCISCO STATE UNIVERSITY DEPARTMENT OF GEOSCIENCES |
October 22, 2009
Meteorology 356 |
Homework Assignment 2
Due beginning of class Thursday November 29, 2009
Part I. Create a graph of temperature and rainfall for San Francisco and New York City. (40 points)
Examine the normal rainfall and temperature information for San Francisco Downtown (Mission Dolores) (Note: It's mispelled on the website) and New York, Central Park.
The San Francisco data is accessible at:
http://www.wrcc.dri.edu/Climsum.html
To obtain this, get into the website listed above and click on San Franicsco Mission Dolores. The climatic normals for 1971-200 will appear at upper left.
Either print the information, or record the Average Monthly Maximum Temperature and Mean Monthly Total Precipitation on a separate piece of paper for each station.
The New York Central Park information is accessible at:
Click on the Clmate Summaries for Selected Cities: New York City.
Attached to this sheet are two sheets of graph paper, one labeled "Average Maximum Monthly Temperature" (pdf) and the other labeled "Average Monthly Rainfall" (pdf).
Plot red diamonds (or "X's) on each for the San Francisco data, and plot blue squares (or "+'s") for the New York's data. Connect each "X" with a a solid red line, and each "+" with a solid blue line. (Example showing Average Monthly Temperature for San Francisco and Saint Marys College).
Part II. Compare and contrast the information for San Francisco and New York City (16 points)
Examine your graphs. What are the coldest and warmest months at San Francisco and New York?
Examine your graphs. What are the wettest and driest months at San Francisco and New York?
Which station appears to experience the warmest temperatures in the summer and in the winter?
What percentage of the annual rainfall occurs in January at both stations? (Take the January rainfall, divide by the annual rainfall and multiply by 100)
What percentage of the annual rainfall occurs in July at both stations?
Part III. Synthesis (44 points)
In one or two paragraphs, compare and contrast the aspects of the climates of San Francisco and New York illustrated by the data you plotted in Part I and characterized in Part II.
