December Weather in Norilsk Russia

Daily high temperatures decrease by 6°F, from 1°F to -5°F, rarely falling below -27°F or exceeding 22°F.

Daily low temperatures decrease by 6°F, from -10°F to -16°F, rarely falling below -37°F or exceeding 11°F.

For reference, on July 17, the hottest day of the year, temperatures in Norilsk typically range from 52°F to 65°F, while on January 12, the coldest day of the year, they range from -17°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.

Rankin Inlet, Canada (3,309 miles away) and Iqaluit, Canada (3,175 miles) are the far-away foreign places with temperatures most similar to Norilsk (view comparison).

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The month of December in Norilsk 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 clearest day of the month is December 31, with clear, mostly clear, or partly cloudy conditions 25% of the time.

For reference, on November 9, the cloudiest day of the year, the chance of overcast or mostly cloudy conditions is 80%, while on July 15, the clearest day of the year, the chance of clear, mostly clear, or partly cloudy skies is 48%.

A wet day is one with at least 0.04 inches of liquid or liquid-equivalent precipitation. In Norilsk, the chance of a wet day over the course of December is decreasing, starting the month at 16% and ending it at 10%.

For reference, the year's highest daily chance of a wet day is 35% on June 23, and its lowest chance is 9% on January 8.

Snowfall

As 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 Norilsk is decreasing, starting the month at 8.0 inches, when it rarely exceeds 16.5 inches or falls below 0.7 inches, and ending the month at 6.1 inches, when it rarely exceeds 15.3 inches or falls below 0.3 inches.

Due to its extreme latitude, Norilsk experiences polar day (also known as the midnight Sun) during the summer and polar night during the winter. These are periods of time in which the sun is continuously above or below the horizon for more than one day. The precise start and end dates of polar day and night vary from year to year and depend on the precise location and elevation of the observer, and the local topography.

In the winter in Norilsk during 2024, the Sun is continuously below the horizon for 1.5 months, setting at 1:14 PM on November 28, and not rising again until 12:55 PM on January 14. As such, the sun is continuously below the horizon for the entire month of December.

Daylight saving time is not observed in Norilsk during 2024.

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.

The 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.

We 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 Norilsk is essentially constant during December, remaining around 0% throughout.

For reference, on August 2, the muggiest day of the year, there are muggy conditions 0% of the time, while on September 2, the least muggy day of the year, there are muggy conditions 0% of the time.

This 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 Norilsk is essentially constant during December, remaining within 0.4 miles per hour of 13.7 miles per hour throughout.

For reference, on December 13, the windiest day of the year, the daily average wind speed is 14.0 miles per hour, while on August 14, the calmest day of the year, the daily average wind speed is 9.3 miles per hour.

The highest daily average wind speed during December is 14.0 miles per hour on December 13.

The hourly average wind direction in Norilsk throughout December is predominantly from the south, with a peak proportion of 75% on December 17.

Definitions 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 Norilsk typically lasts for 3.2 months (99 days), from around June 5 to around September 12, rarely starting before May 20 or after June 21, and rarely ending before August 27 or after September 27.

The month of December in Norilsk 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 Norilsk are essentially constant during December, remaining around 602°F throughout.

This 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 Norilsk is essentially constant during December, remaining around 0.0 kWh throughout.

The lowest average daily incident shortwave solar energy during December is -0.0 kWh on December 22.

For the purposes of this report, the geographical coordinates of Norilsk are 69.354 deg latitude, 88.203 deg longitude, and 167 ft elevation.

The topography within 2 miles of Norilsk contains only modest variations in elevation, with a maximum elevation change of 272 feet and an average elevation above sea level of 192 feet. Within 10 miles contains only modest variations in elevation (2,152 feet). Within 50 miles contains large variations in elevation (3,724 feet).

The area within 2 miles of Norilsk is covered by water (46%), bare soil (28%), and grassland (11%), within 10 miles by bare soil (46%) and grassland (25%), and within 50 miles by grassland (63%) and shrubs (15%).