Microclimates

2:46pm Monday 10th March 2008

In the countryside and within our gardens we have microclimates. Animals make use of these areas and often need them to survive. When we experience severe winter weather, many small animals finds ways to stay alive. In some places they live beneath the snow, out of the cold and harsh winds. Other animals live below the ground such as moles. In the dry hotter summer months some animals move down deeper to where the soil is cooler and moist. Near the ground level and in the soil beneath it, plants and animals experience weather very different from above.

This is a "microclimate". There are other microclimates in places sheltered from the large-scale weather or more exposed to it. The microclimates beneath the soil, at ground level and several feet above the ground differ in numerous ways. One easy to measure indication of this is temperature, which can vary by large amounts and can effect humidity at low levels.Next Week.......Atmospheric Phenomena.The answer to last week's question: Leaves.This weeks question: The soil temperature in summer at lower level is:A/ Warmer/Drier.B/ Cooler/Moist.Glossary:

Black Ice: Transparent ice that forms when liquid water on the ground freezes, for instance when the temperature falls sharply after rain.Weather for coming week Monday 10th March-Friday 14th MarchPressure low throughout the week, strong winds easing by the end of this period.Strong squally winds 30-55 mph from the west/south-west at times bringing rain or showers alternating with short lived drier, brighter intervals. Frost free nights and milder than usual days although in the winds it will feel cooler than the thermometer suggests.Maximum temperature 10-13c 50-55f.Minimum temperature 4-7c 39-45f.Last Week's Observations (Monday-Sunday) Highest day temperature...........11.7c 54f on Sunday 9th March.Lowest night temperature...........Minus 4.2c 25f on Tuesday 4th March.Wettest day...............................18.5 mm on Sunday Night 9th March.

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