December Weather in Uummannaq GreenlandDaily high temperatures decrease by 6°F, from 15°F to 10°F, rarely falling below -5°F or exceeding 29°F. Daily low temperatures decrease by 6°F, from 7°F to 2°F, rarely falling below -12°F or exceeding 20°F. For reference, on July 15, the hottest day of the year, temperatures in Uummannaq typically range from 44°F to 53°F, while on February 27, the coldest day of the year, they range from -4°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. Uptar, Russia (3,349 miles away) is the far-away foreign place with temperatures most similar to Uummannaq (view comparison). CloudsThe month of December in Uummannaq experiences gradually increasing cloud cover, with the percentage of time that the sky is overcast or mostly cloudy increasing from 72% to 79%. The clearest day of the month is December 1, with clear, mostly clear, or partly cloudy conditions 28% of the time. For reference, on January 1, the cloudiest day of the year, the chance of overcast or mostly cloudy conditions is 79%, while on June 25, the clearest day of the year, the chance of clear, mostly clear, or partly cloudy skies is 50%. PrecipitationA wet day is one with at least 0.04 inches of liquid or liquid-equivalent precipitation. In Uummannaq, the chance of a wet day over the course of December is decreasing, starting the month at 12% and ending it at 7%. For reference, the year's highest daily chance of a wet day is 26% on August 14, and its lowest chance is 5% on February 12. Over the course of December in Uummannaq, the chance of a day with only rain remains an essentially constant 1% throughout, the chance of a day with mixed snow and rain decreases from 3% to 0%, and the chance of a day with only snow decreases from 8% to 6%. RainfallTo 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 in Uummannaq is essentially constant, remaining about 0.1 inches throughout, and rarely exceeding 0.5 inches or falling below -0.0 inches. 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 Uummannaq is decreasing, starting the month at 4.9 inches, when it rarely exceeds 11.6 inches, and ending the month at 3.0 inches, when it rarely exceeds 7.5 inches. SunDue to its extreme latitude, Uummannaq 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 Uummannaq during 2024, the Sun is continuously below the horizon for 2.0 months, setting at 1:28 PM on November 21, and not rising again until 1:32 PM on January 20. As such, the sun is continuously below the horizon for the entire month of December. Daylight saving time is observed in Uummannaq 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 Uummannaq is essentially constant during December, remaining around 0% throughout. 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 Uummannaq is gradually decreasing during December, decreasing from 7.6 miles per hour to 7.0 miles per hour over the course of the month. For reference, on November 28, the windiest day of the year, the daily average wind speed is 7.6 miles per hour, while on July 12, the calmest day of the year, the daily average wind speed is 5.2 miles per hour. The hourly average wind direction in Uummannaq throughout December is predominantly from the east, with a peak proportion of 63% on December 10. Water TemperatureUummannaq 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 Uummannaq is essentially constant during December, remaining around 31°F throughout. 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 Uummannaq typically lasts for 2.8 months (86 days), from around June 2 to around August 27, rarely starting before May 17 or after June 19, and rarely ending before August 9 or after September 14. The month of December in Uummannaq 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 Uummannaq are essentially constant during December, remaining around 75°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 Uummannaq is essentially constant during December, remaining around 0.0 kWh throughout. TopographyFor the purposes of this report, the geographical coordinates of Uummannaq are 70.675 deg latitude, -52.126 deg longitude, and 56 ft elevation. The topography within 2 miles of Uummannaq contains very significant variations in elevation, with a maximum elevation change of 1,473 feet and an average elevation above sea level of 39 feet. Within 10 miles contains very significant variations in elevation (5,512 feet). Within 50 miles also contains extreme variations in elevation (7,270 feet). The area within 2 miles of Uummannaq is covered by water (78%) and sparse vegetation (15%), within 10 miles by water (62%) and sparse vegetation (20%), and within 50 miles by snow and glaciers (40%) and water (30%). Data SourcesThis report illustrates the typical weather in Uummannaq, based on a statistical analysis of historical hourly weather reports and model reconstructions from January 1, 1980 to December 31, 2016. Uummannaq is further than 200 kilometers from the nearest reliable weather station, so the weather-related data on this page were taken entirely from NASA's MERRA-2 satellite-era reanalysis . 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. The temperature and dew point estimates are corrected for the difference between the reference elevation of the MERRA-2 grid cell and the elevation of Uummannaq, according to the International Standard Atmosphere . All 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. 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. 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