Winter Weather at Nellis Air Force Base United States

Daily high temperatures increase by 7°F, from 61°F to 68°F, rarely falling below 49°F or exceeding 77°F. The lowest daily average high temperature is 57°F on December 24.

Daily low temperatures increase by 6°F, from 39°F to 45°F, rarely falling below 28°F or exceeding 54°F. The lowest daily average low temperature is 36°F on December 25.

For reference, on July 12, the hottest day of the year, temperatures at Nellis Air Force Base typically range from 79°F to 105°F, while on December 25, the coldest day of the year, they range from 36°F to 57°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.

Subaykhān, Syria (7,289 miles away) and Meybod, Iran (7,660 miles) are the far-away foreign places with temperatures most similar to Nellis Air Force Base (view comparison).

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The winter at Nellis Air Force Base experiences gradually increasing cloud cover, with the percentage of time that the sky is overcast or mostly cloudy increasing from 33% to 39%. The highest chance of overcast or mostly cloudy conditions is 40% on February 23.

The clearest day of the winter is December 1, with clear, mostly clear, or partly cloudy conditions 67% of the time.

For reference, on February 23, the cloudiest day of the year, the chance of overcast or mostly cloudy conditions is 40%, while on June 20, the clearest day of the year, the chance of clear, mostly clear, or partly cloudy skies is 88%.

A wet day is one with at least 0.04 inches of liquid or liquid-equivalent precipitation. At Nellis Air Force Base, the chance of a wet day over the course of the winter is increasing, starting the season at 6% and ending it at 12%.

For reference, the year's highest daily chance of a wet day is 13% on February 22, and its lowest chance is 2% on June 19.

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 at Nellis Air Force Base is gradually increasing, starting the season at 0.4 inches, when it rarely exceeds 1.1 inches, and ending the season at 0.7 inches, when it rarely exceeds 2.1 inches.

The highest average 31-day accumulation is 0.8 inches on February 21.

Over the course of the winter at Nellis Air Force Base, 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, 31 minutes, implying an average daily increase of 1 minute, 2 seconds, and weekly increase of 7 minutes, 11 seconds.

The shortest day of the winter is December 21, with 9 hours, 41 minutes of daylight and the longest day is February 28, with 11 hours, 23 minutes of daylight.

The latest sunrise of the winter at Nellis Air Force Base is 6:51 AM on January 5 and the earliest sunrise is 41 minutes earlier at 6:11 AM on February 28.

The earliest sunset is 4:25 PM on December 5 and the latest sunset is 1 hour, 9 minutes later at 5:34 PM on February 28.

Daylight saving time is observed at Nellis Air Force Base during 2024, but it neither starts nor ends during the winter, so the entire season is in daylight saving time.

For reference, on June 20, the longest day of the year, the Sun rises at 5:22 AM and sets 14 hours, 38 minutes later, at 8:00 PM, while on December 21, the shortest day of the year, it rises at 6:47 AM and sets 9 hours, 41 minutes later, at 4:29 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 at Nellis Air Force Base is essentially constant during the winter, remaining around 0% throughout.

For reference, on August 5, the muggiest day of the year, there are muggy conditions 4% of the time, while on October 12, 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 at Nellis Air Force Base is essentially constant during the winter, remaining within 0.2 miles per hour of 7.7 miles per hour throughout.

For reference, on April 25, the windiest day of the year, the daily average wind speed is 9.1 miles per hour, while on August 27, the calmest day of the year, the daily average wind speed is 7.1 miles per hour.

The hourly average wind direction at Nellis Air Force Base throughout the winter is predominantly from the north, with a peak proportion of 68% on January 5.

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 at Nellis Air Force Base typically lasts for 9.8 months (298 days), from around February 5 to around November 29, rarely starting before January 12 or after February 27, and rarely ending before November 12 or after December 18.

The winter at Nellis Air Force Base is more likely than not fully outside of the growing season, with the chance that a given day is in the growing season reaching a low of 5% on January 2.

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 at Nellis Air Force Base are very rapidly decreasing during the winter, decreasing by 6,385°F, from 6,602°F to 217°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 at Nellis Air Force Base is rapidly increasing during the winter, rising by 1.7 kWh, from 3.1 kWh to 4.8 kWh, over the course of the season.

The lowest average daily incident shortwave solar energy during the winter is 2.9 kWh on December 22.

For the purposes of this report, the geographical coordinates of Nellis Air Force Base are 36.237 deg latitude, -115.033 deg longitude, and 1,844 ft elevation.

The topography within 2 miles of Nellis Air Force Base contains only modest variations in elevation, with a maximum elevation change of 174 feet and an average elevation above sea level of 1,865 feet. Within 10 miles contains only modest variations in elevation (2,976 feet). Within 50 miles contains large variations in elevation (11,234 feet).

The area within 2 miles of Nellis Air Force Base is covered by shrubs (59%) and bare soil (38%), within 10 miles by shrubs (78%) and artificial surfaces (12%), and within 50 miles by shrubs (91%).