diurnal temperature range

Also known as thermal oscillation, this is the difference between the highest and the lowest temperature reached at a given place over a given period of time. As a matter of routine, the value obtained by adding the extreme temperatures (maximum and minimum) and dividing by two is calculated for each day at weather observatories. The greatest values of thermal amplitude - both daily and annual - occur in places with a markedly continental climate, where there are large temperature differences between day and night and between summer and winter.