December Weather at Mackenzie Airport Canada

Daily high temperatures decrease by 5°F, from 25°F to 20°F, rarely falling below -3°F or exceeding 37°F.

Daily low temperatures decrease by 6°F, from 14°F to 7°F, rarely falling below -18°F or exceeding 30°F.

For reference, on August 1, the hottest day of the year, temperatures at Mackenzie Airport typically range from 49°F to 74°F, while on January 1, the coldest day of the year, they range from 7°F to 20°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.

Bollstabruk, Sweden (4,001 miles away) and Imeni Zhelyabova, Russia (4,468 miles) are the far-away foreign places with temperatures most similar to Mackenzie Airport (view comparison).

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The month of December at Mackenzie Airport experiences essentially constant cloud cover, with the percentage of time that the sky is overcast or mostly cloudy remaining about 78% throughout the month.

The clearest day of the month is December 29, with clear, mostly clear, or partly cloudy conditions 24% of the time.

For reference, on November 29, the cloudiest day of the year, the chance of overcast or mostly cloudy conditions is 80%, while on August 2, the clearest day of the year, the chance of clear, mostly clear, or partly cloudy skies is 56%.

A wet day is one with at least 0.04 inches of liquid or liquid-equivalent precipitation. At Mackenzie Airport, the chance of a wet day over the course of December is essentially constant, remaining around 31% throughout.

For reference, the year's highest daily chance of a wet day is 38% on November 4, and its lowest chance is 19% on April 6.

Over the course of December at Mackenzie Airport, the chance of a day with only rain remains an essentially constant 5% throughout, the chance of a day with mixed snow and rain remains an essentially constant 7% throughout, and the chance of a day with only snow remains an essentially constant 20% 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 Mackenzie Airport is essentially constant, remaining about 0.5 inches throughout, and rarely exceeding 1.3 inches.

The lowest average 31-day accumulation is 0.4 inches on December 31.

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 Mackenzie Airport is gradually increasing, starting the month at 12.7 inches, when it rarely exceeds 24.9 inches or falls below 4.8 inches, and ending the month at 13.4 inches, when it rarely exceeds 22.6 inches or falls below 5.2 inches.

The highest average 31-day accumulation is 13.4 inches on December 19.

Over the course of December at Mackenzie Airport, the length of the day is gradually decreasing. From the start to the end of the month, the length of the day decreases by 17 minutes, implying an average daily decrease of 34 seconds, and weekly decrease of 3 minutes, 59 seconds.

The shortest day of the month is December 21, with 7 hours, 6 minutes of daylight and the longest day is December 1, with 7 hours, 30 minutes of daylight.

The earliest sunrise of the month at Mackenzie Airport is 8:16 AM on December 1 and the latest sunrise is 23 minutes later at 8:39 AM on December 28.

The earliest sunset is 3:41 PM on December 13 and the latest sunset is 11 minutes later at 3:52 PM on December 31.

Daylight saving time is observed at Mackenzie Airport 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 4:30 AM and sets 17 hours, 27 minutes later, at 9:57 PM, while on December 21, the shortest day of the year, it rises at 8:37 AM and sets 7 hours, 6 minutes later, at 3:44 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 Mackenzie Airport is essentially constant during December, remaining around 0% throughout.

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 Mackenzie Airport is essentially constant during December, remaining within 0.1 miles per hour of 4.9 miles per hour throughout.

For reference, on February 26, the windiest day of the year, the daily average wind speed is 5.2 miles per hour, while on July 31, the calmest day of the year, the daily average wind speed is 3.9 miles per hour.

The hourly average wind direction at Mackenzie Airport throughout December is predominantly from the south, with a peak proportion of 50% on December 9.

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 Mackenzie Airport typically lasts for 3.5 months (108 days), from around May 26 to around September 10, rarely starting before May 8 or after June 15, and rarely ending before August 21 or after September 28.

The month of December at Mackenzie Airport 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 Mackenzie Airport are essentially constant during December, remaining around 1,084°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 Mackenzie Airport is essentially constant during December, remaining around 0.5 kWh throughout.

The lowest average daily incident shortwave solar energy during December is 0.5 kWh on December 18.

For the purposes of this report, the geographical coordinates of Mackenzie Airport are 55.304 deg latitude, -123.132 deg longitude, and 2,274 ft elevation.

The topography within 2 miles of Mackenzie Airport contains only modest variations in elevation, with a maximum elevation change of 308 feet and an average elevation above sea level of 2,283 feet. Within 10 miles contains only modest variations in elevation (3,589 feet). Within 50 miles also contains extreme variations in elevation (5,892 feet).

The area within 2 miles of Mackenzie Airport is covered by trees (45%), sparse vegetation (30%), and shrubs (13%), within 10 miles by trees (75%) and water (12%), and within 50 miles by trees (87%).