Meterology Weather in Gaithersburg, MD

Meterology

Weather in Gaithersburg, MD

There are many different factors that influence the weather anywhere in the world, and Gaithersburg, Maryland is no exception. At an elevation of approximately four-hundred-and-fifty feet, located in the proximity of the Potomac River and not incredibly distant form the Atlantic Ocean, a confluence of land and water weather patterns impact the city and alter is climate and temperature patterns. Analyzing this locality's weather requires and understanding of the global, regional, and local forces and patterns at work, and such an assessment will be provided below. A discussion of recent weather events and potential human impacts on climate and weather patterns in the area will also be provided at the end of this report, providing a comprehensive view of known and potential weather influences.

Gaithersburg, Maryland is located at a latitude of thirty-nine-point-fifteen (39.15) degrees North and a longitude of seventy-seven-point-twenty-one degrees West (National Weather Service, 2011). This places the city in the Northern Hemisphere, which is currently in the process of becoming tilted as far away from the Sun as it can get and is thus experiencing winter. Less direct sunlight and shorter days are the primary weather impacts of this global situation, causing lower temperatures and, in Gaithersburg as well as many other parts of the world, less precipitation and less overall "weather" due to less energy being existent in the system. With the average daily temperature range for this time of year stretching from twenty-seven degrees to forty-degrees Fahrenheit yet with precipitation extremely low (approaching zero), these expected global effects are definitely being seem (Weather Underground, 2011).

At the regional level, Gaithersburg, Maryland is best considered part of North America's Atlantic seaboard, which receives a continual (or near continual) influx of cold as the waters of the Atlantic complete a counter-clockwise path traveling West across the Arctic Circle, then South along the North American landmass (starting in Canada), and growing increasingly warmer as it sweeps past Florida before submerging and continuing the loop by heading East and then North again (Rowe et al., 2011). This influx of cold masses along with other more complex regional forces can create hurricanes and other less sever though still quite noticeable weather disturbances for Gaithersburg and other areas located on or near the Atlantic coast (Weather Underground, 2011). Wind patterns that move East across the continent, carrying dryer air from the Midwest, also seems to be a regional factor in the development of weather in Maryland and many other nearby communities.

At the local level, Gaithersburg's climate is also influenced by the nearby Potomac River, by the elevation of the town, and to some degree by the lack of area urbanization that seems to have taken place. The Potomac adds more moisture to the air and the weather, creating more potential for precipitation and a variety of other weather events (Weather Underground, 2011). The record precipitation for a single day during this time of year is still under an inch, however, and ultimately many of the disparate weather effects that various factors have in this area appear to essentially negate each other -- weather is relatively mild year-round, with few disturbances of note even in the past several years (National Weather Service, 2011).

The possible human impact on the climate and weather patterns at Gaithersburg also are difficult to understate, although these effects might not be especially direct and are in fact more global and cumulative in their ultimate results. Global warming brought about by the high and increasing use of fossil fuels by citizens of the United States and other countries is believed to create greater weather instability and volatility simply by adding more energy to the equation, and also by altering patterns such as the North Atlantic Current in ways that are not fully understood (Rowe et al., 2011). Urbanization can also have a major impact on weather development, and the actions in one region could potentially have an effect on the weather in another region. This is one of the reasons that it is so essential to limit human impacts on the environment and to try to mitigate the effects or damages that such impacts have -- without knowing how our actions are going to affect things like the weather, it is best to take those actions in the way that seems least likely to do harm.