January Weather in Aktau KazakhstanDaily high temperatures decrease by 3°F, from 15°F to 12°F, rarely falling below -4°F or exceeding 29°F. The lowest daily average high temperature is 12°F on January 31. Daily low temperatures decrease by 4°F, from 0°F to -4°F, rarely falling below -24°F or exceeding 18°F. For reference, on July 3, the hottest day of the year, temperatures in Aktau typically range from 56°F to 78°F, while on February 2, the coldest day of the year, they range from -4°F to 12°F. The figure below shows you a compact characterization of the hourly average temperatures for the quarter of the year centered on January. 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. Meadow Lake, Canada (5,231 miles away) and Yorkton, Canada (5,428 miles) are the far-away foreign places with temperatures most similar to Aktau (view comparison). CloudsThe month of January in Aktau experiences essentially constant cloud cover, with the percentage of time that the sky is overcast or mostly cloudy remaining about 77% throughout the month. The highest chance of overcast or mostly cloudy conditions is 79% on January 2. The clearest day of the month is January 31, with clear, mostly clear, or partly cloudy conditions 25% of the time. For reference, on January 2, the cloudiest day of the year, the chance of overcast or mostly cloudy conditions is 79%, while on August 6, the clearest day of the year, the chance of clear, mostly clear, or partly cloudy skies is 73%. PrecipitationA wet day is one with at least 0.04 inches of liquid or liquid-equivalent precipitation. In Aktau, the chance of a wet day over the course of January is gradually decreasing, starting the month at 9% and ending it at 7%. For reference, the year's highest daily chance of a wet day is 24% on July 10, and its lowest chance is 6% on February 6. 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 January in Aktau is gradually decreasing, starting the month at 3.1 inches, when it rarely exceeds 6.8 inches or falls below 0.4 inches, and ending the month at 2.5 inches, when it rarely exceeds 5.0 inches or falls below 0.2 inches. SunOver the course of January in Aktau, the length of the day is rapidly increasing. From the start to the end of the month, the length of the day increases by 1 hour, 6 minutes, implying an average daily increase of 2 minutes, 13 seconds, and weekly increase of 15 minutes, 28 seconds. The shortest day of the month is January 1, with 8 hours, 7 minutes of daylight and the longest day is January 31, with 9 hours, 14 minutes of daylight. The latest sunrise of the month in Aktau is 9:07 AM on January 1 and the earliest sunrise is 23 minutes earlier at 8:44 AM on January 31. The earliest sunset is 5:14 PM on January 1 and the latest sunset is 43 minutes later at 5:58 PM on January 31. Daylight saving time is not observed in Aktau during 2024. For reference, on June 20, the longest day of the year, the Sun rises at 4:57 AM and sets 16 hours, 25 minutes later, at 9:21 PM, while on December 21, the shortest day of the year, it rises at 9:04 AM and sets 8 hours, 2 minutes later, at 5:07 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 January 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 Aktau is essentially constant during January, remaining around 0% throughout. For reference, on July 17, 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 Aktau is gradually decreasing during January, decreasing from 12.7 miles per hour to 12.1 miles per hour over the course of the month. For reference, on January 6, the windiest day of the year, the daily average wind speed is 12.7 miles per hour, while on July 21, the calmest day of the year, the daily average wind speed is 8.6 miles per hour. The highest daily average wind speed during January is 12.7 miles per hour on January 6. The hourly average wind direction in Aktau throughout January is predominantly from the south, with a peak proportion of 46% on January 6. 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 Aktau typically lasts for 4.2 months (131 days), from around May 11 to around September 18, rarely starting before April 19 or after June 2, and rarely ending before August 30 or after October 9. The month of January in Aktau 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 Aktau are essentially constant during January, remaining around 0°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 Aktau is gradually increasing during January, rising by 0.7 kWh, from 0.9 kWh to 1.6 kWh, over the course of the month. TopographyFor the purposes of this report, the geographical coordinates of Aktau are 50.235 deg latitude, 73.067 deg longitude, and 1,650 ft elevation. The topography within 2 miles of Aktau contains only modest variations in elevation, with a maximum elevation change of 207 feet and an average elevation above sea level of 1,667 feet. Within 10 miles also contains only modest variations in elevation (417 feet). Within 50 miles contains only modest variations in elevation (1,470 feet). The area within 2 miles of Aktau is covered by sparse vegetation (58%) and grassland (12%), within 10 miles by sparse vegetation (24%) and cropland (20%), and within 50 miles by cropland (28%) and grassland (21%). Data SourcesThis report illustrates the typical weather in Aktau, 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 are 2 weather stations near enough to contribute to our estimation of the temperature and dew point in Aktau. For each station, the records are corrected for the elevation difference between that station and Aktau according to the International Standard Atmosphere , and by the relative change present in the MERRA-2 satellite-era reanalysis between the two locations. The estimated value at Aktau is computed as the weighted average of the individual contributions from each station, with weights proportional to the inverse of the distance between Aktau and a given station. The stations contributing to this reconstruction are:
To get a sense of how much these sources agree with each other, you can view a comparison of Aktau and the stations that contribute to our estimates of its temperature history and climate. Please note that each source's contribution is adjusted for elevation and the relative change present in the MERRA-2 data. 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. We further caution that our travel scores are only as good as the data that underpin them, that weather conditions at any given location and time are unpredictable and variable, and that the definition of the scores reflects a particular set of preferences that may not agree with those of any particular reader. Please review our full terms contained on our Terms of Service page. |