Weather history

[karl]

I just finished my second year burning and I getting ready to order this falls wood.

I'm trying to judge how much I need, and I would like to know how cold it was in my area last year compared to averages.

I can find record highs and lows as well as averages online, but I haven't found a site that posts the temperatures for the previous year so I can compare them to the averages.

Does anybody know of such a site.

 

[BrotherBart]

Go to weatherunderground.com and enter Huntington, West Virginia. When the next page comes up scroll halfway down to "Detailed History and Climate"/

From there you can get it by the hour, day, week or month for last year.

 

[runandjump]

When I used to heat with propane, I could call the propane dealer and they could give me the last 3-5 years of what they called heat-days. I'm not sure of the formula but for eg. if it was say 50 deg avg. for the day it would be worth xx# of points. If it was 30 deg avg it would be worth xxx# of points. With this they could get an idea of how much propane you would use in any given time frame so they could fill up the tank. I used this data to figure roughly how much wood it would take to heat my house.I would call your local propane company and they might be able to give you some info.

 

[fossil]

Just look at the record lows and take your best guess, armed with the experience you have, on how much wood you'd need to get through a winter like that, and bring in about 1 1/2 times that much wood for starters. Then go from there. You'll never outsmart Mother Nature down to the split...or even down to the face cord. And...properly stored firewood doesn't go bad, it just gets better. Rick

 

[granpajohn]

RunandJump is right. You want Heating Degree Days (HDD) for your location. This is available from NOAA (you can actually start at weather.gov I think). There are weathermen who specialize is medium range forecasting of HDD for various markets and they can sell this data to fuel suppliers. A HVAC engineer designing a building system will use this data as per ASHRAE design standards.

But, so much for science. The fact is that Fossil is also right. Make your best guess and then get more. This is wood, not propane. We're having fun, after all.

 

[Backwoods Savage]

And do not hesitate much longer on ordering wood. You are actually late already, even if they say the wood is seasoned. So get it stacked where wind will hit it and if possible so it gets lots of sunshine too. Wood needs time to season properly.

 

[BrotherBart]

Here is a handy site to get heating and cooling degree days. They use the data from weatherunderground.com.

http://www.degreedays.net

 

[ChillyGator]

It's a cool 101* down here ......the wood I split last week will be dry tomorrow!

Hoping it won't spontanously combust.