Summary:
Fort Varhad is a rugged climate - probably more rugged than any that exist on Planet Earth. The annual temperature variation is extreme (-48 degrees F to 170 degrees F in 2010), the monthly temperature variation is extreme (-46 degrees F to 92 degrees F in January 2011), the low levels of humidity are extreme, the sunlight is extreme, and the drought is extreme.
Winters (late November through early April) are usually cold, with occasional spells of bitter cold, as well as heat; the record high for February, for example, is 101 degrees. Occasionally, but rarely, are temperatures below -60 reached; the record low is -73.
Summers (early June through late September) are very hot, with temperatures often exceeding 150 degrees, and nights sometimes staying above 120 degrees. The record high is 184 degrees, set on July 4, 1993.
Humidities are extremely low. They are greatest in February (16% average at 1800), but lowest in July (0.7% average at 1800). Even the morning humidity is very low, averaging between 1.4% in July and 40% in February. During extreme weather events, relative humidity can be even lower - for example, on August 2, 2010 at 2:00 p.m., the temperature was 170 degrees F but the dewpoint -10, for a relative humidity of 0.2%.
With such low humidity levels, it is not surprising that little precipitation falls in Ft. Varhad: the annual mean is 0.32". Actually, that's quite misleading, because four out of ten years, no precipitation falls; when it does, it's usually in the form of snow. No precipitation has ever fallen in the months of June, July, August, and September, and it is extremely rare in April, May, and October: only in November through March does it fall. The longest drought on record began on December 6th, 1949, and lasted until January 30th, 1962. The average number of precipitation days per year is 1.2; again, this strongly skewed by variable annual precipitation patterns.
Precipitation is snow approximately 90% of the time, and rain about 10%. Whatever precipitation there is falls almost invariably falls between 2 and 8 a.m.; afternoon snowfall or rainfall is extremely rare, and has only been reported on four occasions, or every 30 years.
Almost all the sunlight possible falls on Ft. Varhad. The skies are clear well over 90% of the time.
The terrain is flat as far as the eye can see; it is desert, plain red, hard dirt, except when covered by snow, as it was in 2011, 2010, 2007, and 2002.
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