Water and Climate Program
Products and Services Briefing Book

Climate Analysis for Wetlands

Wetlands have been identified as an important component to healthy ecosystems. Climate plays an important role in the genesis and identification of wetlands. With increased population, demands on the wetlands will also increase. Therefore, to identify the physical characteristics of wetlands adequately, specific tools and procedures are needed.

The objective of the WETS Table is to define the normal range for monthly precipitation and normalrange for growing season required to assess the climatic characteristics for a geographic area over a representative time period.

WETS Station : APPOMATTOX, VA0243                       CREATION DATE:  6/24/96 
Latitude:  3722      Longitude:  07850        Elevation:  910  
State FIPS/County(FIPS):  51011     County Name: Appomattox  
Start yr. - 1961   End yr. - 1990 
-------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
          |       Temperature     |           Precipitation              | 
          |       (Degrees F.)    |              (Inches)                | 
          |-----------------------|--------------------------------------| 
          |       |       |       |        |   30% chance    |avg |      | 
          |       |       |       |        |    will have    |# of| avg  | 
          |-------|-------|-------|        |-----------------|days| total| 
  Month   |  avg  |  avg  |  avg  |   avg  | less   | more   |w/.1| snow | 
          | daily | daily |       |        | than   | than   |  or| fall |
          |  max  |  min  |       |        |        |        |more|      | 
-------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
January   |  43.8 |  23.3 |  33.6 |   2.80 |   1.91 |   3.34 |  6 |  6.3 | 
February  |  46.5 |  25.3 |  35.9 |   3.13 |   1.88 |   3.79 |  6 |  5.5 | 
March     |  56.7 |  33.8 |  45.2 |   3.82 |   2.67 |   4.53 |  7 |  2.7 | 
April     |  67.2 |  42.4 |  54.8 |   3.35 |   2.25 |   4.01 |  6 |  0.1 | 
May       |  75.6 |  51.5 |  63.6 |   4.21 |   2.88 |   5.02 |  7 |  0.0 | 
June      |  82.7 |  59.7 |  71.2 |   3.25 |   1.76 |   3.97 |  5 |  0.0 | 
July      |  86.5 |  64.1 |  75.3 |   4.30 |   3.11 |   5.07 |  7 |  0.0 | 
August    |  85.1 |  63.1 |  74.1 |   4.17 |   2.48 |   5.06 |  6 |  0.0 | 
September |  78.7 |  55.9 |  67.3 |   3.45 |   1.65 |   4.21 |  4 |  0.0 | 
October   |  68.1 |  43.1 |  55.6 |   3.77 |   1.98 |   4.60 |  5 |  0.0 | 
November  |  58.7 |  35.9 |  47.3 |   3.38 |   2.10 |   4.08 |  5 |  0.6 | 
December  |  47.9 |  27.3 |  37.6 |   3.10 |   1.68 |   3.79 |  5 |  2.0 | 
----------|-------|-------|-------|--------|--------|--------|----|------| 
----------|-------|-------|-------|--------|--------|--------|----|------| 
  Annual  | ----- | ----- | ----- | ------ |  34.01 |  46.44 | -- | ---- | 
----------|-------|-------|-------|--------|--------|--------|----|------| 
  Average |  66.5 |  43.8 |  55.1 | ------ | ------ | ------ | -- | ---- | 
----------|-------|-------|-------|--------|--------|--------|----|------| 
  Total   | ----- | ----- | ----- |  42.72 | ------ | ------ | 69 | 17.3 | 
----------|-------|-------|-------|--------|--------|--------|----|------| 
-------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
 
GROWING SEASON DATES  
 
--------------------------------------------------------------------------- 
                     |                     Temperature 
---------------------|----------------------------------------------------- 
      Probability    | 24 F or higher  | 28 F or higher  | 32 F or higher  |  
---------------------|-----------------|-----------------|----------------- 
                     |              Beginning and Ending Dates 
                     |                Growing Season Length 
                     | 
       50 percent *  |   3/17 to 11/16 |   4/ 4 to 10/31 |   4/15 to 10/20   
                     |     243 days    |     210 days    |     188 days         
                     |                 |                 | 
       70 percent *  |   3/12 to 11/21 |   3/30 to 11/ 5 |   4/12 to 10/24   
                     |     254 days    |     220 days    |     195 days         
                     |                 |                 | 
--------------------------------------------------------------------------- 
 * Percent chance of the growing season occurring between the Beginning 
   and Ending dates.  
total  1948-1996  prcp