Winter Weather in Kitami Japan

Daily high temperatures decrease by 7°F, from 36°F to 29°F, rarely falling below 18°F or exceeding 44°F. The lowest daily average high temperature is 26°F on January 26.

Daily low temperatures decrease by 7°F, from 20°F to 14°F, rarely falling below -4°F or exceeding 32°F. The lowest daily average low temperature is 8°F on January 30.

For reference, on August 6, the hottest day of the year, temperatures in Kitami typically range from 62°F to 75°F, while on January 26, the coldest day of the year, they range from 8°F to 26°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.

Little Current, Canada (5,636 miles away) and Shediac, Canada (5,985 miles) are the far-away foreign places with temperatures most similar to Kitami (view comparison).

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The winter in Kitami experiences rapidly increasing cloud cover, with the percentage of time that the sky is overcast or mostly cloudy increasing from 40% to 54%. The highest chance of overcast or mostly cloudy conditions is 56% on February 2.

The clearest day of the winter is December 1, with clear, mostly clear, or partly cloudy conditions 60% of the time.

For reference, on June 6, the cloudiest day of the year, the chance of overcast or mostly cloudy conditions is 59%, while on October 19, the clearest day of the year, the chance of clear, mostly clear, or partly cloudy skies is 64%.

A wet day is one with at least 0.04 inches of liquid or liquid-equivalent precipitation. In Kitami, 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 September 3, and its lowest chance is 10% on February 13.

Over the course of the winter in Kitami, the chance of a day with only rain decreases from 10% to 2%, the chance of a day with mixed snow and rain remains an essentially constant 4% throughout, and the chance of a day with only snow increases from 6% to 8%.

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 Kitami is decreasing, starting the season at 1.1 inches, when it rarely exceeds 2.2 inches or falls below 0.3 inches, and ending the season at 0.3 inches, when it rarely exceeds 1.0 inches.

The lowest average 31-day accumulation is 0.2 inches on February 2.

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 Kitami is gradually increasing, starting the season at 6.2 inches, when it rarely exceeds 15.2 inches or falls below 0.7 inches, and ending the season at 6.7 inches, when it rarely exceeds 14.8 inches or falls below 0.9 inches.

The highest average 31-day accumulation is 8.8 inches on December 27.

Over the course of the winter in Kitami, 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, 58 minutes, implying an average daily increase of 1 minute, 20 seconds, and weekly increase of 9 minutes, 18 seconds.

The shortest day of the winter is December 21, with 8 hours, 55 minutes of daylight and the longest day is February 28, with 11 hours, 8 minutes of daylight.

The latest sunrise of the winter in Kitami is 6:58 AM on January 3 and the earliest sunrise is 55 minutes earlier at 6:03 AM on February 28.

The earliest sunset is 3:46 PM on December 9 and the latest sunset is 1 hour, 24 minutes later at 5:11 PM on February 28.

Daylight saving time is not observed in Kitami during 2024.

For reference, on June 20, the longest day of the year, the Sun rises at 3:42 AM and sets 15 hours, 28 minutes later, at 7:09 PM, while on December 21, the shortest day of the year, it rises at 6:55 AM and sets 8 hours, 55 minutes later, at 3:49 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 Kitami is essentially constant during the winter, remaining around 0% throughout.

For reference, on August 8, the muggiest day of the year, there are muggy conditions 22% of the time, while on January 1, 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 Kitami is gradually increasing during the winter, increasing from 9.0 miles per hour to 9.6 miles per hour over the course of the season.

For reference, on March 22, the windiest day of the year, the daily average wind speed is 9.8 miles per hour, while on July 19, the calmest day of the year, the daily average wind speed is 5.8 miles per hour.

The hourly average wind direction in Kitami throughout the winter is predominantly from the west, with a peak proportion of 59% on December 2.

Kitami 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 Kitami is rapidly decreasing during the winter, falling by 10°F, from 41°F to 31°F, over the course of the season.

The lowest average surface water temperature during the winter is 31°F on February 23.

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 Kitami typically lasts for 5.5 months (166 days), from around April 30 to around October 14, rarely starting before April 14 or after May 18, and rarely ending before September 29 or after October 29.

The winter in Kitami 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 Kitami are very rapidly decreasing during the winter, decreasing by 1,742°F, from 1,742°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 Kitami is rapidly increasing during the winter, rising by 1.5 kWh, from 1.6 kWh to 3.1 kWh, over the course of the season.

The lowest average daily incident shortwave solar energy during the winter is 1.4 kWh on December 23.

For the purposes of this report, the geographical coordinates of Kitami are 43.803 deg latitude, 143.891 deg longitude, and 259 ft elevation.

The topography within 2 miles of Kitami contains only modest variations in elevation, with a maximum elevation change of 466 feet and an average elevation above sea level of 293 feet. Within 10 miles contains only modest variations in elevation (2,549 feet). Within 50 miles contains large variations in elevation (7,113 feet).

The area within 2 miles of Kitami is covered by cropland (62%), trees (22%), and grassland (11%), within 10 miles by trees (58%) and cropland (34%), and within 50 miles by trees (53%) and water (29%).