December Weather in Air Force Academy Colorado, United StatesDaily high temperatures decrease by 4°F, from 45°F to 41°F, rarely falling below 24°F or exceeding 59°F. The lowest daily average high temperature is 41°F on December 29. Daily low temperatures decrease by 4°F, from 21°F to 17°F, rarely falling below 2°F or exceeding 32°F. The lowest daily average low temperature is 17°F on December 29. For reference, on July 8, the hottest day of the year, temperatures in Air Force Academy typically range from 53°F to 81°F, while on December 29, the coldest day of the year, they range from 17°F to 41°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. Dedeköy, Turkey (6,383 miles away) is the far-away foreign place with temperatures most similar to Air Force Academy (view comparison). CloudsThe month of December in Air Force Academy experiences essentially constant cloud cover, with the percentage of time that the sky is overcast or mostly cloudy remaining about 40% throughout the month. The clearest day of the month is December 29, with clear, mostly clear, or partly cloudy conditions 61% of the time. For reference, on May 4, the cloudiest day of the year, the chance of overcast or mostly cloudy conditions is 46%, while on September 28, the clearest day of the year, the chance of clear, mostly clear, or partly cloudy skies is 75%. PrecipitationA wet day is one with at least 0.04 inches of liquid or liquid-equivalent precipitation. In Air Force Academy, 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 37% on August 3, and its lowest chance is 3% on January 10. 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 Air Force Academy is gradually decreasing, starting the month at 2.1 inches, when it rarely exceeds 5.4 inches or falls below 0.1 inches, and ending the month at 1.6 inches, when it rarely exceeds 4.0 inches. SunOver the course of December in Air Force Academy, the length of the day is essentially constant. The shortest day of the month is December 21, with 9 hours, 26 minutes of daylight and the longest day is December 1, with 9 hours, 37 minutes of daylight. The earliest sunrise of the month in Air Force Academy is 6:59 AM on December 1 and the latest sunrise is 18 minutes later at 7:18 AM on December 31. The earliest sunset is 4:36 PM on December 7 and the latest sunset is 11 minutes later at 4:47 PM on December 31. Daylight saving time is observed in Air Force Academy 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 5:33 AM and sets 14 hours, 55 minutes later, at 8:28 PM, while on December 21, the shortest day of the year, it rises at 7:15 AM and sets 9 hours, 26 minutes later, at 4:40 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. 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 Air Force Academy 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 Air Force Academy is essentially constant during December, remaining within 0.1 miles per hour of 9.4 miles per hour throughout. For reference, on March 31, the windiest day of the year, the daily average wind speed is 10.7 miles per hour, while on August 13, the calmest day of the year, the daily average wind speed is 7.1 miles per hour. The hourly average wind direction in Air Force Academy throughout December is predominantly from the west, with a peak proportion of 60% on December 27. 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 Air Force Academy typically lasts for 4.5 months (138 days), from around May 12 to around September 27, rarely starting before April 26 or after May 29, and rarely ending before September 9 or after October 16. The month of December in Air Force Academy 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 Air Force Academy are essentially constant during December, remaining within 4°F of 2,170°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 Air Force Academy is essentially constant during December, remaining within 0.1 kWh of 2.7 kWh throughout. The lowest average daily incident shortwave solar energy during December is 2.6 kWh on December 21. TopographyFor the purposes of this report, the geographical coordinates of Air Force Academy are 38.994 deg latitude, -104.864 deg longitude, and 6,781 ft elevation. The topography within 2 miles of Air Force Academy contains very significant variations in elevation, with a maximum elevation change of 1,024 feet and an average elevation above sea level of 6,840 feet. Within 10 miles contains very significant variations in elevation (3,612 feet). Within 50 miles also contains extreme variations in elevation (9,380 feet). The area within 2 miles of Air Force Academy is covered by shrubs (61%), trees (22%), and grassland (14%), within 10 miles by trees (43%) and shrubs (33%), and within 50 miles by grassland (47%) and trees (25%). Data SourcesThis report illustrates the typical weather in Air Force Academy, 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 Air Force Academy. For each station, the records are corrected for the elevation difference between that station and Air Force Academy 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 Air Force Academy is computed as the weighted average of the individual contributions from each station, with weights proportional to the inverse of the distance between Air Force Academy 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 Air Force Academy 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. |