December Weather in Fort McPherson CanadaDaily high temperatures are around -2°F, rarely falling below -20°F or exceeding 20°F. Daily low temperatures decrease by 2°F, from -12°F to -14°F, rarely falling below -31°F or exceeding 6°F. For reference, on July 4, the hottest day of the year, temperatures in Fort McPherson typically range from 54°F to 73°F, while on January 20, the coldest day of the year, they range from -17°F to -5°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. Pangody, Russia (3,120 miles away) is the far-away foreign place with temperatures most similar to Fort McPherson (view comparison). CloudsThe month of December in Fort McPherson experiences essentially constant cloud cover, with the percentage of time that the sky is overcast or mostly cloudy remaining about 69% throughout the month. The highest chance of overcast or mostly cloudy conditions is 70% on December 14. The clearest day of the month is December 30, with clear, mostly clear, or partly cloudy conditions 33% of the time. For reference, on April 5, the cloudiest day of the year, the chance of overcast or mostly cloudy conditions is 75%, while on June 23, the clearest day of the year, the chance of clear, mostly clear, or partly cloudy skies is 48%. PrecipitationA wet day is one with at least 0.04 inches of liquid or liquid-equivalent precipitation. In Fort McPherson, the chance of a wet day over the course of December is essentially constant, remaining around 5% throughout. For reference, the year's highest daily chance of a wet day is 21% on July 17, and its lowest chance is 3% on March 8. 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 December in Fort McPherson is gradually decreasing, starting the month at 2.4 inches, when it rarely exceeds 5.9 inches or falls below 0.1 inches, and ending the month at 1.9 inches, when it rarely exceeds 4.5 inches or falls below 0.1 inches. SunDue to its extreme latitude, Fort McPherson 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 Fort McPherson during 2024, the Sun is continuously below the horizon for 1.0 weeks, setting at 1:57 PM on December 17, and not rising again until 1:58 PM on December 24. As such, polar night begins and ends during December. The longest day of the month is December 1, with 2 hours, 52 minutes of daylight. The earliest sunrise of the month in Fort McPherson is 12:22 PM on December 1 and the latest sunrise is 1 hour, 36 minutes later at 1:58 PM on December 24. The latest sunset is 3:14 PM on December 1 and the earliest sunset is 1 hour, 17 minutes earlier at 1:57 PM on December 17. Daylight saving time is observed in Fort McPherson 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. MoonThe 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.
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 Fort McPherson is essentially constant during December, remaining around 0% throughout. For reference, on June 20, 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 Fort McPherson is gradually increasing during December, increasing from 7.3 miles per hour to 8.0 miles per hour over the course of the month. For reference, on June 2, the windiest day of the year, the daily average wind speed is 8.2 miles per hour, while on October 17, the calmest day of the year, the daily average wind speed is 7.2 miles per hour. The hourly average wind direction in Fort McPherson throughout December is predominantly from the north, with a peak proportion of 48% on December 1. 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 Fort McPherson typically lasts for 3.4 months (105 days), from around May 26 to around September 8, rarely starting before May 10 or after June 10, and rarely ending before August 18 or after September 28. The month of December in Fort McPherson 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 Fort McPherson are essentially constant during December, remaining around 1,004°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 Fort McPherson 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 21. TopographyFor the purposes of this report, the geographical coordinates of Fort McPherson are 67.439 deg latitude, -134.885 deg longitude, and 69 ft elevation. The topography within 2 miles of Fort McPherson contains only modest variations in elevation, with a maximum elevation change of 108 feet and an average elevation above sea level of 41 feet. Within 10 miles contains only modest variations in elevation (1,316 feet). Within 50 miles contains very significant variations in elevation (5,499 feet). The area within 2 miles of Fort McPherson is covered by trees (66%) and water (10%), within 10 miles by trees (56%) and shrubs (29%), and within 50 miles by trees (35%) and shrubs (27%). Data SourcesThis report illustrates the typical weather in Fort McPherson, 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 3 weather stations near enough to contribute to our estimation of the temperature and dew point in Fort McPherson. For each station, the records are corrected for the elevation difference between that station and Fort McPherson 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 Fort McPherson is computed as the weighted average of the individual contributions from each station, with weights proportional to the inverse of the distance between Fort McPherson 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 Fort McPherson 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. |