GREAT SAND DUNES N M, COLORADO

Period of Record General Climate Summary - Growing Degree Days

Station:(053541) GREAT SAND DUNES N M
From Year=1950 To Year=2006
Growing Degree Days for Selected Base Temperature (F)
Base Jan. Feb. Mar. Apr. May Jun. Jul. Aug. Sep. Oct. Nov. Dec. Annual
40 M 1 2 29 133 365 627 794 719 500 220 21 1 3412
40 S 1 3 32 165 530 1157 1951 2670 3170 3390 3411 3412 3412
45 M 0 0 6 54 227 478 639 564 352 108 2 0 2431
45 S 0 0 6 60 287 765 1404 1968 2320 2429 2431 2431 2431
50 M 0 0 0 13 114 331 484 409 212 35 0 0 1598
50 S 0 0 0 14 127 458 942 1351 1563 1598 1598 1598 1598
55 M 0 0 0 1 39 195 330 255 94 5 0 0 919
55 S 0 0 0 1 40 235 565 820 914 919 919 919 919
60 M 0 0 0 0 7 85 179 113 23 0 0 0 408
60 S 0 0 0 0 7 92 271 384 407 408 408 408 408
Corn Growing Degree Days
50 M 1 5 37 120 256 405 501 447 325 176 30 2 2306
50 S 1 7 43 164 419 825 1325 1772 2097 2273 2303 2306 2306
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 Jul 28, 2006
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