December Weather in Fort Nelson CanadaDaily high temperatures decrease by 4°F, from 9°F to 6°F, rarely falling below -15°F or exceeding 28°F. The lowest daily average high temperature is 5°F on December 30. Daily low temperatures decrease by 5°F, from -4°F to -8°F, rarely falling below -29°F or exceeding 12°F. For reference, on July 23, the hottest day of the year, temperatures in Fort Nelson typically range from 53°F to 75°F, while on January 14, the coldest day of the year, they range from -9°F to 6°F. The figure below shows you a compact characterization of the hourly average temperatures for the quarter of the year centered on December. The horizontal axis is the day, the vertical axis is the hour of the day, and the color is the average temperature for that hour and day. Irkutsk, Russia (4,327 miles away) is the far-away foreign place with temperatures most similar to Fort Nelson (view comparison). CloudsThe month of December in Fort Nelson experiences essentially constant cloud cover, with the percentage of time that the sky is overcast or mostly cloudy remaining about 68% throughout the month. The clearest day of the month is December 27, with clear, mostly clear, or partly cloudy conditions 33% of the time. For reference, on March 4, the cloudiest day of the year, the chance of overcast or mostly cloudy conditions is 70%, while on August 7, the clearest day of the year, the chance of clear, mostly clear, or partly cloudy skies is 48%. PrecipitationA wet day is one with at least 0.04 inches of liquid or liquid-equivalent precipitation. In Fort Nelson, the chance of a wet day over the course of December is essentially constant, remaining around 13% throughout. For reference, the year's highest daily chance of a wet day is 31% on July 13, and its lowest chance is 10% on February 14. SnowfallAs with rainfall, we consider the snowfall accumulated over a sliding 31-day period centered around each day. The average sliding 31-day snowfall during December in Fort Nelson is gradually decreasing, starting the month at 5.6 inches, when it rarely exceeds 10.5 inches or falls below 1.2 inches, and ending the month at 4.8 inches, when it rarely exceeds 8.5 inches or falls below 1.4 inches. The lowest average 31-day accumulation is 4.7 inches on December 27. SunOver the course of December in Fort Nelson, the length of the day is gradually decreasing. From the start to the end of the month, the length of the day decreases by 21 minutes, implying an average daily decrease of 42 seconds, and weekly decrease of 4 minutes, 56 seconds. The shortest day of the month is December 20, with 6 hours, 14 minutes of daylight and the longest day is December 1, with 6 hours, 44 minutes of daylight. The earliest sunrise of the month in Fort Nelson is 9:37 AM on December 1 and the latest sunrise is 26 minutes later at 10:03 AM on December 27. The earliest sunset is 4:14 PM on December 14 and the latest sunset is 11 minutes later at 4:25 PM on December 31. Daylight saving time is not observed in Fort Nelson during 2024. For reference, on June 20, the longest day of the year, the Sun rises at 3:59 AM and sets 18 hours, 27 minutes later, at 10:25 PM, while on December 21, the shortest day of the year, it rises at 10:02 AM and sets 6 hours, 14 minutes later, at 4:16 PM. The figure below presents a compact representation of the sun's elevation (the angle of the sun above the horizon) and azimuth (its compass bearing) for every hour of every day in the reporting period. The horizontal axis is the day of the year and the vertical axis is the hour of the day. For a given day and hour of that day, the background color indicates the azimuth of the sun at that moment. The black isolines are contours of constant solar elevation. MoonThe figure below presents a compact representation of key lunar data for December 2024. The horizontal axis is the day, the vertical axis is the hour of the day, and the colored areas indicate when the moon is above the horizon. The vertical gray bars (new Moons) and blue bars (full Moons) indicate key Moon phases. The label associated with each bar indicates the date and time that the phase is obtained, and the companion time labels indicate the rise and set times of the Moon for the nearest time interval in which the moon is above the horizon.
HumidityWe base the humidity comfort level on the dew point, as it determines whether perspiration will evaporate from the skin, thereby cooling the body. Lower dew points feel drier and higher dew points feel more humid. Unlike temperature, which typically varies significantly between night and day, dew point tends to change more slowly, so while the temperature may drop at night, a muggy day is typically followed by a muggy night. The chance that a given day will be muggy in Fort Nelson is essentially constant during December, remaining around 0% throughout. For reference, on July 28, the muggiest day of the year, there are muggy conditions 0% of the time, while on January 1, the least muggy day of the year, there are muggy conditions 0% of the time. WindThis section discusses the wide-area hourly average wind vector (speed and direction) at 10 meters above the ground. The wind experienced at any given location is highly dependent on local topography and other factors, and instantaneous wind speed and direction vary more widely than hourly averages. The average hourly wind speed in Fort Nelson is essentially constant during December, remaining within 0.1 miles per hour of 4.2 miles per hour throughout. For reference, on January 29, the windiest day of the year, the daily average wind speed is 4.4 miles per hour, while on July 20, the calmest day of the year, the daily average wind speed is 3.3 miles per hour. The hourly average wind direction in Fort Nelson throughout December is predominantly from the west, with a peak proportion of 38% on December 9. Growing SeasonDefinitions of the growing season vary throughout the world, but for the purposes of this report, we define it as the longest continuous period of non-freezing temperatures (≥ 32°F) in the year (the calendar year in the Northern Hemisphere, or from July 1 until June 30 in the Southern Hemisphere). The growing season in Fort Nelson typically lasts for 4.0 months (122 days), from around May 15 to around September 14, rarely starting before April 29 or after May 30, and rarely ending before August 25 or after October 1. The month of December in Fort Nelson is reliably fully outside of the growing season. Growing degree days are a measure of yearly heat accumulation used to predict plant and animal development, and defined as the integral of warmth above a base temperature, discarding any excess above a maximum temperature. In this report, we use a base of 50°F and a cap of 86°F. The average accumulated growing degree days in Fort Nelson are essentially constant during December, remaining around 1,296°F throughout. Solar EnergyThis section discusses the total daily incident shortwave solar energy reaching the surface of the ground over a wide area, taking full account of seasonal variations in the length of the day, the elevation of the Sun above the horizon, and absorption by clouds and other atmospheric constituents. Shortwave radiation includes visible light and ultraviolet radiation. The average daily incident shortwave solar energy in Fort Nelson is essentially constant during December, remaining around 0.3 kWh throughout. The lowest average daily incident shortwave solar energy during December is 0.3 kWh on December 20. TopographyFor the purposes of this report, the geographical coordinates of Fort Nelson are 58.805 deg latitude, -122.700 deg longitude, and 1,365 ft elevation. The topography within 2 miles of Fort Nelson contains significant variations in elevation, with a maximum elevation change of 646 feet and an average elevation above sea level of 1,346 feet. Within 10 miles contains significant variations in elevation (1,257 feet). Within 50 miles contains very significant variations in elevation (4,203 feet). The area within 2 miles of Fort Nelson is covered by trees (62%), sparse vegetation (16%), and herbaceous vegetation (12%), within 10 miles by trees (77%) and herbaceous vegetation (12%), and within 50 miles by trees (86%) and herbaceous vegetation (10%). Data SourcesThis report illustrates the typical weather in Fort Nelson, based on a statistical analysis of historical hourly weather reports and model reconstructions from January 1, 1980 to December 31, 2016. Temperature and Dew PointThere is only a single weather station, Northern Rockies Regional Airport, in our network suitable to be used as a proxy for the historical temperature and dew point records of Fort Nelson. At a distance of 7 kilometers from Fort Nelson, closer than our threshold of 150 kilometers, this station is deemed sufficiently nearby to be relied upon as our primary source for temperature and dew point records. The station records are corrected for the elevation difference between the station and Fort Nelson according to the International Standard Atmosphere , and by the relative change present in the MERRA-2 satellite-era reanalysis between the two locations. Please note that the station records themselves may additionally have been back-filled using other nearby stations or the MERRA-2 reanalysis. Other DataAll data relating to the Sun's position (e.g., sunrise and sunset) are computed using astronomical formulas from the book, Astronomical Algorithms 2nd Edition , by Jean Meeus. All other weather data, including cloud cover, precipitation, wind speed and direction, and solar flux, come from NASA's MERRA-2 Modern-Era Retrospective Analysis . This reanalysis combines a variety of wide-area measurements in a state-of-the-art global meteorological model to reconstruct the hourly history of weather throughout the world on a 50-kilometer grid. Land Use data comes from the Global Land Cover SHARE database , published by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. Elevation data comes from the Shuttle Radar Topography Mission (SRTM) , published by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Names, locations, and time zones of places and some airports come from the GeoNames Geographical Database . Time zones for airports and weather stations are provided by AskGeo.com . Maps are © OpenStreetMap contributors. DisclaimerThe information on this site is provided as is, without any assurances as to its accuracy or suitability for any purpose. Weather data is prone to errors, outages, and other defects. We assume no responsibility for any decisions made on the basis of the content presented on this site. We draw particular cautious attention to our reliance on the MERRA-2 model-based reconstructions for a number of important data series. While having the tremendous advantages of temporal and spatial completeness, these reconstructions: (1) are based on computer models that may have model-based errors, (2) are coarsely sampled on a 50 km grid and are therefore unable to reconstruct the local variations of many microclimates, and (3) have particular difficulty with the weather in some coastal areas, especially small islands. 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