January Weather in Estes Park Colorado, United States

Daily high temperatures are around 31°F, rarely falling below 16°F or exceeding 43°F. The lowest daily average high temperature is 30°F on January 2.

Daily low temperatures are around 13°F, rarely falling below -2°F or exceeding 25°F.

For reference, on July 12, the hottest day of the year, temperatures in Estes Park typically range from 49°F to 77°F, while on December 29, the coldest day of the year, they range from 12°F to 30°F.

The figure below shows you a compact characterization of the hourly average temperatures for the quarter of the year centered on January. 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.

Gračanica, Bosnia & Herzegovina (5,662 miles away); Chepelare, Bulgaria (5,970 miles); and Başkale, Turkey (6,694 miles) are the far-away foreign places with temperatures most similar to Estes Park (view comparison).

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The month of January in Estes Park experiences essentially constant cloud cover, with the percentage of time that the sky is overcast or mostly cloudy remaining about 42% throughout the month. The lowest chance of overcast or mostly cloudy conditions is 40% on January 8.

The clearest day of the month is January 8, with clear, mostly clear, or partly cloudy conditions 60% of the time.

For reference, on May 4, the cloudiest day of the year, the chance of overcast or mostly cloudy conditions is 49%, while on July 1, the clearest day of the year, the chance of clear, mostly clear, or partly cloudy skies is 73%.

A wet day is one with at least 0.04 inches of liquid or liquid-equivalent precipitation. In Estes Park, the chance of a wet day over the course of January is essentially constant, remaining around 10% throughout.

For reference, the year's highest daily chance of a wet day is 29% on May 22, and its lowest chance is 9% on January 28.

Over the course of January in Estes Park, the chance of a day with only rain remains an essentially constant 1% throughout, the chance of a day with mixed snow and rain remains an essentially constant 1% throughout, and the chance of a day with only snow remains an essentially constant 7% 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 January in Estes Park is essentially constant, remaining about 0.1 inches throughout, and rarely exceeding 0.2 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 January in Estes Park is essentially constant, remaining about 3.7 inches throughout, and rarely exceeding 8.8 inches or falling below 0.4 inches.

The lowest average 31-day accumulation is 3.6 inches on January 15.

Over the course of January in Estes Park, the length of the day is increasing. From the start to the end of the month, the length of the day increases by 45 minutes, implying an average daily increase of 1 minute, 30 seconds, and weekly increase of 10 minutes, 31 seconds.

The shortest day of the month is January 1, with 9 hours, 21 minutes of daylight and the longest day is January 31, with 10 hours, 6 minutes of daylight.

The latest sunrise of the month in Estes Park is 7:25 AM on January 4 and the earliest sunrise is 13 minutes earlier at 7:12 AM on January 31.

The earliest sunset is 4:46 PM on January 1 and the latest sunset is 33 minutes later at 5:18 PM on January 31.

Daylight saving time is observed in Estes Park during 2024, but it neither starts nor ends during January, so the entire month is in standard time.

For reference, on June 20, the longest day of the year, the Sun rises at 5:32 AM and sets 15 hours, 4 minutes later, at 8:35 PM, while on December 21, the shortest day of the year, it rises at 7:21 AM and sets 9 hours, 17 minutes later, at 4:39 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 January 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 Estes Park is essentially constant during January, 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 Estes Park is essentially constant during January, remaining within 0.3 miles per hour of 10.9 miles per hour throughout.

For reference, on January 11, the windiest day of the year, the daily average wind speed is 11.2 miles per hour, while on August 9, the calmest day of the year, the daily average wind speed is 5.2 miles per hour.

The highest daily average wind speed during January is 11.2 miles per hour on January 11.

The hourly average wind direction in Estes Park throughout January is predominantly from the west, with a peak proportion of 87% on January 10.

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 Estes Park typically lasts for 4.0 months (122 days), from around May 24 to around September 23, rarely starting before May 5 or after June 16, and rarely ending before September 5 or after October 10.

The month of January in Estes Park 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 Estes Park are essentially constant during January, remaining around 0°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 Estes Park is gradually increasing during January, rising by 0.7 kWh, from 2.4 kWh to 3.1 kWh, over the course of the month.

For the purposes of this report, the geographical coordinates of Estes Park are 40.377 deg latitude, -105.522 deg longitude, and 7,549 ft elevation.

The topography within 2 miles of Estes Park contains very significant variations in elevation, with a maximum elevation change of 1,437 feet and an average elevation above sea level of 7,802 feet. Within 10 miles contains very significant variations in elevation (8,035 feet). Within 50 miles also contains extreme variations in elevation (9,662 feet).

The area within 2 miles of Estes Park is covered by shrubs (73%) and trees (16%), within 10 miles by trees (71%) and shrubs (20%), and within 50 miles by trees (41%) and shrubs (22%).