BITTER LAKES WR, NEW MEXICO

Period of Record General Climate Summary - Growing Degree Days

Station:(290992) BITTER LAKES WL REFUGE
From Year=1950 To Year=2012
Growing Degree Days for Selected Base Temperature (F)
Base Jan. Feb. Mar. Apr. May Jun. Jul. Aug. Sep. Oct. Nov. Dec. Annual
40 M 87 162 355 598 883 1122 1235 1180 930 612 247 89 7500
40 S 87 249 605 1202 2085 3208 4443 5623 6553 7165 7411 7500 7500
45 M 32 79 225 452 728 972 1080 1025 780 461 137 33 6005
45 S 32 111 336 788 1516 2489 3569 4594 5374 5835 5972 6005 6005
50 M 9 30 120 312 574 822 925 870 631 316 60 9 4678
50 S 9 39 159 471 1045 1868 2793 3663 4293 4609 4669 4678 4678
55 M 1 8 49 187 423 672 770 715 483 184 17 2 3512
55 S 1 9 58 246 669 1341 2111 2826 3309 3493 3510 3512 3512
60 M 0 1 14 90 279 523 615 560 338 84 3 0 2507
60 S 0 1 15 105 384 907 1522 2082 2420 2504 2507 2507 2507
Corn Growing Degree Days
50 M 145 190 316 430 554 676 767 737 583 436 246 145 5224
50 S 145 335 651 1081 1635 2311 3078 3815 4398 4834 5079 5224 5224
M = Monthly Data
S - Running sum of monthly data.
Growing Degree Day units are computed as the difference between the daily average temperature and the base temperature. (Daily Ave. Temp. - Base Temp.) One unit is accumulated for each degree Fahrenheit the average temperature is above the base temperature. Negative numbers are discarded. Example: If the days high temperature was 95 and the low temperature was 51, the base 60 heating degree day units is ((95 + 51) / 2) - 60 = 13. This is done for each day of the month and summed.
Corn Growing Degree Day units have the limitations that the maximum daily temperatures greater than 86 F are set to 86 F and minimums less than 50 F are set to 50 F.
Table updated on Oct 31, 2012
Months with 5 or more missing days are not considered
Years with 1 or more missing months are not considered

Western Regional Climate Center, wrcc@dri.edu