December Weather in Prudhoe Bay United States

Daily high temperatures decrease by 3°F, from -2°F to -5°F, rarely falling below -23°F or exceeding 15°F.

Daily low temperatures decrease by 4°F, from -13°F to -17°F, rarely falling below -34°F or exceeding 4°F.

For reference, on July 27, the hottest day of the year, temperatures in Prudhoe Bay typically range from 41°F to 54°F, while on February 9, the coldest day of the year, they range from -21°F to -9°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.

Tosontsengel, Mongolia (3,578 miles away) and McMurdo Station, Antarctica (10,406 miles) are the far-away foreign places with temperatures most similar to Prudhoe Bay (view comparison).

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The month of December in Prudhoe Bay experiences essentially constant cloud cover, with the percentage of time that the sky is overcast or mostly cloudy remaining about 87% throughout the month.

The clearest day of the month is December 1, with clear, mostly clear, or partly cloudy conditions 14% of the time.

For reference, on January 21, the cloudiest day of the year, the chance of overcast or mostly cloudy conditions is 90%, while on June 26, the clearest day of the year, the chance of clear, mostly clear, or partly cloudy skies is 35%.

A wet day is one with at least 0.04 inches of liquid or liquid-equivalent precipitation. In Prudhoe Bay, the chance of a wet day over the course of December is essentially constant, remaining around 4% throughout.

For reference, the year's highest daily chance of a wet day is 22% on August 16, and its lowest chance is 2% on March 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 in Prudhoe Bay is essentially constant, remaining about 1.3 inches throughout, and rarely exceeding 3.6 inches or falling below -0.0 inches.

Due to its extreme latitude, Prudhoe Bay 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 Prudhoe Bay during 2024, the Sun is continuously below the horizon for 1.9 months, setting at 1:12 PM on November 22, and not rising again until 12:45 PM on January 18. As such, the sun is continuously below the horizon for the entire month of December.

Daylight saving time is observed in Prudhoe Bay during 2024, but it neither starts nor ends during December, so the entire month is in daylight saving time.

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 Prudhoe Bay 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 in Prudhoe Bay is gradually increasing during December, increasing from 11.7 miles per hour to 12.4 miles per hour over the course of the month.

For reference, on January 12, the windiest day of the year, the daily average wind speed is 12.9 miles per hour, while on July 28, the calmest day of the year, the daily average wind speed is 9.3 miles per hour.

The hourly average wind direction in Prudhoe Bay throughout December is predominantly from the east, with a peak proportion of 52% on December 4.

Prudhoe Bay 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 in Prudhoe Bay is essentially constant during December, remaining around 29°F throughout.

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 Prudhoe Bay typically lasts for 1.7 months (51 days), from around June 27 to around August 17, rarely starting before June 6, or ending after September 7.

The month of December in Prudhoe Bay 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 Prudhoe Bay are essentially constant during December, remaining around 112°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 Prudhoe Bay is essentially constant during December, remaining around 0.0 kWh throughout.

For the purposes of this report, the geographical coordinates of Prudhoe Bay are 70.255 deg latitude, -148.337 deg longitude, and 46 ft elevation.

The topography within 2 miles of Prudhoe Bay is essentially flat, with a maximum elevation change of 59 feet and an average elevation above sea level of 39 feet. Within 10 miles is also essentially flat (82 feet). Within 50 miles is essentially flat (965 feet).

The area within 2 miles of Prudhoe Bay is covered by sparse vegetation (56%), herbaceous vegetation (21%), and water (13%), within 10 miles by sparse vegetation (31%) and water (28%), and within 50 miles by water (45%) and grassland (33%).