Blog 3 - Meso/Micro Scale and Overall Climate

Meso-Scale:
As stated in my previous blog posts, I think that Medford is influenced by orographic features. It sits in the middle of Rogue Valley and is completely surrounded by mountains and high hills which I think definitely effect weather conditions to an extent. It is about an hour or so away from the Pacific Ocean which would supply decent moisture to the area, hence the decent amount of rain seen each year. From the maps I have seen and weather websites I have visited, it seems that Medford is not greatly effected by cold or warm fronts and is lacking in the department of hurricanes. The main air mass effecting Medford is the Maritime Polar.

http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.richhoffmanclass.com/images/chapter8/airmasses_map.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.richhoffmanclass.com/chapter8.htm&h=325&w=410&sz=120&tbnid=baHgikeIJMrvaM:&tbnh=84&tbnw=106&zoom=1&docid=fHa7817RcUHpFM&sa=X&ei=mUyhT7aNPOjA2gXkrvC1CQ&ved=0CDoQ9QEwAQ&dur=737

Micro-Scale: (Naturally Occurring)
The naturally occurring micro-scale influences are very similar to what I stated above for meso-scale. Since Medford sits in a valley, I think that the moisture provided from the ocean gets trapped within the area thus causing more precipitation than if it was just a flat open area. Also, since these valley walls are decent in height, I think that they act as a wind barrier. Growing up, there was never an issue when playing games with thrown objects, such as gold, baseball or anything of that sort. Also influencing the annual precipitation are the vast water bodies located throughout and around the valley. There are many little lakes, rivers and ponds supplying moisture to the area.

Micro-Scale: (Anthropogenic)
From what I could find, the weather station sits near an open field in southwest Medford. This may be close to irrigated farm land which would cause a higher air moisture content, influencing the readings of the station. Some of the native species of plants in Medford are Biglead maple, Birthroot, Bleedingheart, and Camas to name a few. Some of the invasive species include Butterfly Bush and Scotch Broom. There is not much industrial activity in Medford, especially near the station, so I don't think it would have much effect on the daily readings.

From the Koppen Climate Classification Map, Medford seems to be Csb.

This was my first time creating these graphs on my new Macbook so I understand if I get marked off for incorrect X and Y axis labels. But I think the information portrayed is in order. It looks that the average high temperature for Medford seems to be somewhat constant throughout the last couple decades. The average low seems to fluctuate a lot which I think may be due to greater or lesser influences from Airmasses. I used average high and lows because I didn't find a suitable website giving January and July high and low temperatures in a reasonable manor.


http://weather-warehouse.com/WeatherHistory/PastWeatherData_MedfordExperimentStn_Medford_OR.html