Winter Weather in Vorkuta RussiaDaily high temperatures are around 5°F, rarely falling below -23°F or exceeding 30°F. The lowest daily average high temperature is 0°F on January 11. Daily low temperatures are around -10°F, rarely falling below -37°F or exceeding 16°F. The lowest daily average low temperature is -15°F on January 11. For reference, on July 15, the hottest day of the year, temperatures in Vorkuta typically range from 47°F to 62°F, while on January 11, the coldest day of the year, they range from -15°F to 0°F. The figure below shows you a compact characterization of the hourly average winter temperatures. 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. Fermont, Canada (3,756 miles away) is the far-away foreign place with temperatures most similar to Vorkuta (view comparison). CloudsThe winter in Vorkuta experiences essentially constant cloud cover, with the percentage of time that the sky is overcast or mostly cloudy remaining about 86% throughout the season. The highest chance of overcast or mostly cloudy conditions is 88% on December 12. The clearest day of the winter is February 22, with clear, mostly clear, or partly cloudy conditions 16% of the time. For reference, on December 12, the cloudiest day of the year, the chance of overcast or mostly cloudy conditions is 88%, while on July 3, the clearest day of the year, the chance of clear, mostly clear, or partly cloudy skies is 43%. PrecipitationA wet day is one with at least 0.04 inches of liquid or liquid-equivalent precipitation. In Vorkuta, the chance of a wet day over the course of the winter is rapidly decreasing, starting the season at 20% and ending it at 13%. For reference, the year's highest daily chance of a wet day is 36% on August 23, and its lowest chance is 10% on February 9. Over the course of the winter in Vorkuta, the chance of a day with only rain remains an essentially constant 0% 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 decreases from 18% to 13%. RainfallTo show variation within the season and not just the monthly totals, we show the rainfall accumulated over a sliding 31-day period centered around each day. The average sliding 31-day rainfall during the winter in Vorkuta is essentially constant, remaining about 0.0 inches throughout, and rarely exceeding 0.2 inches or falling below -0.0 inches. The lowest average 31-day accumulation is 0.0 inches on February 4. 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 the winter in Vorkuta is decreasing, starting the season at 7.7 inches, when it rarely exceeds 13.2 inches or falls below 3.2 inches, and ending the season at 4.8 inches, when it rarely exceeds 10.9 inches or falls below 1.2 inches. The lowest average 31-day accumulation is 4.2 inches on February 7. SunDue to its extreme latitude, Vorkuta 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 Vorkuta during 2024, the Sun is continuously below the horizon for 1.7 weeks, setting at 10:49 AM on December 15, and not rising again until 10:35 AM on December 27. As such, polar night begins and ends during the winter. The longest day of the winter is February 28, with 9 hours, 43 minutes of daylight. The latest sunrise of the winter in Vorkuta is 10:35 AM on December 27 and the earliest sunrise is 4 hours, 30 minutes earlier at 6:05 AM on February 28. The earliest sunset is 10:49 AM on December 15 and the latest sunset is 4 hours, 59 minutes later at 3:48 PM on February 28. Daylight saving time is not observed in Vorkuta during 2024. 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 the winter of 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 Vorkuta is essentially constant during the winter, remaining around 0% throughout. For reference, on July 17, the muggiest day of the year, there are muggy conditions 2% 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 Vorkuta is essentially constant during the winter, remaining within 0.4 miles per hour of 12.1 miles per hour throughout. For reference, on April 11, the windiest day of the year, the daily average wind speed is 12.5 miles per hour, while on August 4, the calmest day of the year, the daily average wind speed is 8.6 miles per hour. The hourly average wind direction in Vorkuta throughout the winter is predominantly from the south, with a peak proportion of 53% on January 24. 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 Vorkuta typically lasts for 2.5 months (78 days), from around June 14 to around August 31, rarely starting before May 30 or after June 29, and rarely ending before August 10 or after September 19. The winter in Vorkuta 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 Vorkuta are decreasing during the winter, decreasing by 440°F, from 440°F to 0°F, over the course of the season. 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 Vorkuta is gradually increasing during the winter, rising by 0.8 kWh, from 0.0 kWh to 0.8 kWh, over the course of the season. The lowest average daily incident shortwave solar energy during the winter is 0.0 kWh on December 22. TopographyFor the purposes of this report, the geographical coordinates of Vorkuta are 67.499 deg latitude, 64.053 deg longitude, and 587 ft elevation. The topography within 2 miles of Vorkuta contains only modest variations in elevation, with a maximum elevation change of 394 feet and an average elevation above sea level of 556 feet. Within 10 miles contains only modest variations in elevation (495 feet). Within 50 miles contains significant variations in elevation (3,917 feet). The area within 2 miles of Vorkuta is covered by artificial surfaces (82%), within 10 miles by grassland (48%) and shrubs (25%), and within 50 miles by grassland (56%) and shrubs (28%). Data SourcesThis report illustrates the typical weather in Vorkuta, 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 is only a single weather station, Salekhard Airport, in our network suitable to be used as a proxy for the historical temperature and dew point records of Vorkuta. At a distance of 150 kilometers from Vorkuta, further than our threshold of 150 kilometers, this station is deemed insufficiently nearby to be relied upon as our primary source for temperature and dew point records. Consequently, the station records are blended with interpolated values from NASA's MERRA-2 satellite-era reanalysis , and both are corrected for elevation differences according to the International Standard Atmosphere . The weight assigned to the MERRA-2 value depends on the distance from Vorkuta to the nearest station, increasing from 0% at 150 kilometers to 100% at 200 kilometers. In this case, the MERRA-2 weight is 0%, making the weight assigned to the weather station 100%. 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. 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