Winter Weather in Kapsan-ŭp North Korea

Daily high temperatures are around 22°F, rarely falling below 5°F or exceeding 38°F. The lowest daily average high temperature is 17°F on January 19.

Daily low temperatures are around 2°F, rarely falling below -15°F or exceeding 19°F. The lowest daily average low temperature is -3°F on January 18.

For reference, on August 2, the hottest day of the year, temperatures in Kapsan-ŭp typically range from 58°F to 73°F, while on January 18, the coldest day of the year, they range from -3°F to 17°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.

Bonnyville, Canada (4,989 miles away); Belcourt, United States (5,576 miles); and Atikokan, Canada (5,776 miles) are the far-away foreign places with temperatures most similar to Kapsan-ŭp (view comparison).

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The winter in Kapsan-ŭp experiences essentially constant cloud cover, with the percentage of time that the sky is overcast or mostly cloudy remaining about 39% throughout the season. The highest chance of overcast or mostly cloudy conditions is 41% on January 7.

The clearest day of the winter is December 3, with clear, mostly clear, or partly cloudy conditions 64% of the time.

For reference, on July 21, the cloudiest day of the year, the chance of overcast or mostly cloudy conditions is 54%, while on October 30, the clearest day of the year, the chance of clear, mostly clear, or partly cloudy skies is 69%.

A wet day is one with at least 0.04 inches of liquid or liquid-equivalent precipitation. In Kapsan-ŭp, the chance of a wet day over the course of the winter is essentially constant, remaining around 4% throughout.

For reference, the year's highest daily chance of a wet day is 48% on July 16, and its lowest chance is 1% on January 23.

Over the course of the winter in Kapsan-ŭp, 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 remains an essentially constant 3% throughout.

Rainfall

To 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 Kapsan-ŭp is essentially constant, remaining about 0.1 inches throughout, and rarely exceeding 0.3 inches or falling below -0.0 inches.

The lowest average 31-day accumulation is -0.0 inches on January 12.

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 the winter in Kapsan-ŭp is essentially constant, remaining about 1.6 inches throughout, and rarely exceeding 7.2 inches or falling to 0.0 inches.

The lowest average 31-day accumulation is 0.8 inches on January 22.

Over the course of the winter in Kapsan-ŭp, the length of the day is rapidly increasing. From the start to the end of the season, the length of the day increases by 1 hour, 47 minutes, implying an average daily increase of 1 minute, 12 seconds, and weekly increase of 8 minutes, 25 seconds.

The shortest day of the winter is December 21, with 9 hours, 13 minutes of daylight and the longest day is February 28, with 11 hours, 13 minutes of daylight.

The latest sunrise of the winter in Kapsan-ŭp is 7:52 AM on January 4 and the earliest sunrise is 49 minutes earlier at 7:02 AM on February 28.

The earliest sunset is 4:58 PM on December 8 and the latest sunset is 1 hour, 18 minutes later at 6:16 PM on February 28.

Daylight saving time is not observed in Kapsan-ŭp during 2024.

For reference, on June 20, the longest day of the year, the Sun rises at 4:54 AM and sets 15 hours, 8 minutes later, at 8:02 PM, while on December 21, the shortest day of the year, it rises at 7:48 AM and sets 9 hours, 13 minutes later, at 5:01 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 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.

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 Kapsan-ŭp is essentially constant during the winter, remaining around 0% throughout.

For reference, on August 2, the muggiest day of the year, there are muggy conditions 20% of the time, while on October 6, the least muggy day of the year, there are muggy conditions 0% of the time.

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 Kapsan-ŭp is gradually increasing during the winter, increasing from 6.6 miles per hour to 7.5 miles per hour over the course of the season.

For reference, on February 6, the windiest day of the year, the daily average wind speed is 7.5 miles per hour, while on August 8, the calmest day of the year, the daily average wind speed is 3.4 miles per hour.

The highest daily average wind speed during the winter is 7.5 miles per hour on February 7.

The hourly average wind direction in Kapsan-ŭp throughout the winter is predominantly from the west, with a peak proportion of 71% on December 4.

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 Kapsan-ŭp typically lasts for 4.3 months (132 days), from around May 14 to around September 23, rarely starting before April 28 or after May 30, and rarely ending before September 8 or after October 9.

The winter in Kapsan-ŭp 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 Kapsan-ŭp are very rapidly decreasing during the winter, decreasing by 1,344°F, from 1,344°F to 0°F, over the course of the season.

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 Kapsan-ŭp is rapidly increasing during the winter, rising by 1.7 kWh, from 2.4 kWh to 4.1 kWh, over the course of the season.

The lowest average daily incident shortwave solar energy during the winter is 2.2 kWh on December 19.

For the purposes of this report, the geographical coordinates of Kapsan-ŭp are 41.090 deg latitude, 128.293 deg longitude, and 2,667 ft elevation.

The topography within 2 miles of Kapsan-ŭp contains very significant variations in elevation, with a maximum elevation change of 1,591 feet and an average elevation above sea level of 3,115 feet. Within 10 miles contains very significant variations in elevation (3,812 feet). Within 50 miles also contains extreme variations in elevation (8,225 feet).

The area within 2 miles of Kapsan-ŭp is covered by sparse vegetation (54%) and cropland (31%), within 10 miles by trees (39%) and sparse vegetation (27%), and within 50 miles by trees (59%) and sparse vegetation (12%).