December Weather at Elmendorf Air Force Base United States

Daily high temperatures are around 23°F, rarely falling below 5°F or exceeding 37°F. The lowest daily average high temperature is 22°F on December 28.

Daily low temperatures decrease by 2°F, from 12°F to 10°F, rarely falling below -10°F or exceeding 28°F.

For reference, on July 19, the hottest day of the year, temperatures at Elmendorf Air Force Base typically range from 53°F to 67°F, while on January 17, the coldest day of the year, they range from 10°F to 22°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.

Reinsvoll, Norway (3,953 miles away) and Roknäs, Sweden (3,681 miles) are the far-away foreign places with temperatures most similar to Elmendorf Air Force Base (view comparison).

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The month of December at Elmendorf Air Force Base experiences essentially constant cloud cover, with the percentage of time that the sky is overcast or mostly cloudy remaining about 61% throughout the month. The highest chance of overcast or mostly cloudy conditions is 62% on December 17.

The clearest day of the month is December 1, with clear, mostly clear, or partly cloudy conditions 41% of the time.

For reference, on December 17, the cloudiest day of the year, the chance of overcast or mostly cloudy conditions is 62%, while on March 15, the clearest day of the year, the chance of clear, mostly clear, or partly cloudy skies is 49%.

A wet day is one with at least 0.04 inches of liquid or liquid-equivalent precipitation. At Elmendorf Air Force Base, the chance of a wet day over the course of December is essentially constant, remaining around 24% throughout.

For reference, the year's highest daily chance of a wet day is 40% on September 22, and its lowest chance is 13% on March 26.

Over the course of December at Elmendorf Air Force Base, the chance of a day with only rain remains an essentially constant 3% throughout, the chance of a day with mixed snow and rain remains an essentially constant 4% throughout, and the chance of a day with only snow remains an essentially constant 17% throughout.

Rainfall

To show variation within the month and not just the monthly total, we show the rainfall accumulated over a sliding 31-day period centered around each day.

The average sliding 31-day rainfall during December at Elmendorf Air Force Base is essentially constant, remaining about 0.4 inches throughout, and rarely exceeding 1.4 inches or falling below -0.0 inches.

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 at Elmendorf Air Force Base is gradually decreasing, starting the month at 10.0 inches, when it rarely exceeds 19.2 inches or falls below 3.1 inches, and ending the month at 9.2 inches, when it rarely exceeds 17.5 inches or falls below 3.0 inches.

The highest average 31-day accumulation is 10.2 inches on December 12.

Over the course of December at Elmendorf Air Force Base, the length of the day is gradually decreasing. From the start to the end of the month, the length of the day decreases by 25 minutes, implying an average daily decrease of 50 seconds, and weekly decrease of 5 minutes, 53 seconds.

The shortest day of the month is December 21, with 5 hours, 26 minutes of daylight and the longest day is December 1, with 6 hours, 3 minutes of daylight.

The earliest sunrise of the month at Elmendorf Air Force Base is 9:47 AM on December 1 and the latest sunrise is 29 minutes later at 10:15 AM on December 25.

The earliest sunset is 3:39 PM on December 16 and the latest sunset is 12 minutes later at 3:51 PM on December 31.

Daylight saving time is observed at Elmendorf Air Force Base during 2024, but it neither starts nor ends during December, so the entire month is in daylight saving time.

For reference, on June 20, the longest day of the year, the Sun rises at 4:19 AM and sets 19 hours, 23 minutes later, at 11:42 PM, while on December 21, the shortest day of the year, it rises at 10:14 AM and sets 5 hours, 26 minutes later, at 3:40 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.

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 at Elmendorf Air Force Base 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.

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 at Elmendorf Air Force Base is essentially constant during December, remaining within 0.2 miles per hour of 6.2 miles per hour throughout.

For reference, on January 8, the windiest day of the year, the daily average wind speed is 6.6 miles per hour, while on July 5, the calmest day of the year, the daily average wind speed is 4.2 miles per hour.

The hourly average wind direction at Elmendorf Air Force Base throughout December is predominantly from the east, with a peak proportion of 53% on December 31.

Elmendorf Air Force Base is located near a large body of water (e.g., ocean, sea, or large lake). This section reports on the wide-area average surface temperature of that water.

The average surface water temperature at Elmendorf Air Force Base is gradually decreasing during December, falling by 2°F, from 35°F to 33°F, over the course of the month.

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 at Elmendorf Air Force Base typically lasts for 4.8 months (147 days), from around May 1 to around September 25, rarely starting before April 15 or after May 17, and rarely ending before September 8 or after October 11.

The month of December at Elmendorf Air Force Base 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 at Elmendorf Air Force Base are essentially constant during December, remaining around 857°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 at Elmendorf Air Force Base is essentially constant during December, remaining around 0.2 kWh throughout.

The lowest average daily incident shortwave solar energy during December is 0.1 kWh on December 20.