Minimum/Maximum Temperatures

The MN/MX (or MX/MN) line gives the twelve-hourly maximum and minimum temperatures. The maximum temperatures are given once a day, at 0000 UTC, and apply to the preceding twelve-hour period (that is, from 1200 UTC to 0000 UTC). The minimum temperatures are also given once a day, at 1200 UTC, and also apply to the preceding twelve-hour period (that is, from 0000 UTC to 1200 UTC). In the example below, the overnight low temperature is forecasted to be 57 F, the next day's high temperature to be 72 F, the next night's low temperature to be 54 F, and the high temperature two days hence to be 60 F.

Notice that these twelve-hour periods don't correspond to the WxChallenge period, which runs from 0600 UTC to 0600 UTC. If you expect the maximum and minimum temperatures to occur within their respective MOS periods, there's no problem. But if something unusual is happening (such as an 0600 UTC minimum temperature), you'll need to turn to the instantaneous temperatures on the next line for guidance.

In general, the maximum temperatures will be higher than any listed instantaneous temperatures, and the minimum temperatures will be lower. This is to be expected, since it is rare that the extreme temperatures would occur exactly at one of the three-hourly intervals.

DTW EC NGM MOS GUIDANCE 10/16/96 1200 UTC DAY /OCT 16 /OCT 17 /OCT 18 / HOUR 18 21 00 03 06 09 12 15 18 21 00 03 06 09 12 15 18 21 00 MN/MX 57 72 54 60 TEMP 70 70 66 62 61 59 59 65 69 69 64 61 59 57 55 56 57 55 51 DEWPT 56 56 57 57 56 55 55 56 56 55 55 54 52 51 50 49 46 44 42 CLDS SC SC SC SC BK OV OV OV OV OV OV OV OV OV OV OV OV OV OV WDIR 23 23 17 18 19 18 17 17 18 17 15 15 16 19 20 21 23 23 23 WSPD 11 10 05 06 06 07 08 12 16 14 11 14 15 15 16 19 23 25 18 POP06 8 36 27 20 22 55 66 62 50 POP12 45 39 80 75 QPF 0/ 1/ 0/1 0/ 0/0 2/ 3/3 2/ 1/2 TSV06 9/ 5 23/ 3 11/ 5 7/ 4 12/10 24/ 6 20/ 7 13/ 3 12/16 TSV12 27/ 7 15/ 8 30/13 26/ 9 PTYPE R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R POZP 0 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 POSN 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 6 10 21 SNOW 0/ 0/ 0/0 0/ 0/0 0/ 0/0 0/ 0/0 CIG 7 7 7 7 6 6 6 6 6 7 7 6 4 VIS 5 5 5 5 4 4 4 4 5 5 5 5 4 OBVIS H H H H F F H H N N N N F

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