Winter Weather at Vestmannaeyjar Airport Iceland

Daily high temperatures are around 40°F, rarely falling below 32°F or exceeding 47°F. The lowest daily average high temperature is 39°F on December 31.

Daily low temperatures are around 34°F, rarely falling below 24°F or exceeding 43°F.

For reference, on July 31, the hottest day of the year, temperatures at Vestmannaeyjar Airport typically range from 50°F to 55°F, while on March 7, the coldest day of the year, they range from 33°F to 39°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.

Dutch Harbor, United States (4,135 miles away) is the far-away foreign place with temperatures most similar to Vestmannaeyjar Airport (view comparison).

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The winter at Vestmannaeyjar Airport experiences gradually increasing cloud cover, with the percentage of time that the sky is overcast or mostly cloudy increasing from 70% to 74%. The highest chance of overcast or mostly cloudy conditions is 76% on February 8.

The clearest day of the winter is December 1, with clear, mostly clear, or partly cloudy conditions 30% of the time.

For reference, on February 5, the cloudiest day of the year, the chance of overcast or mostly cloudy conditions is 76%, while on May 5, the clearest day of the year, the chance of clear, mostly clear, or partly cloudy skies is 43%.

A wet day is one with at least 0.04 inches of liquid or liquid-equivalent precipitation. At Vestmannaeyjar Airport, the chance of a wet day over the course of the winter is rapidly increasing, starting the season at 52% and ending it at 59%.

For reference, the year's highest daily chance of a wet day is 59% on February 28, and its lowest chance is 29% on May 26.

Over the course of the winter at Vestmannaeyjar Airport, the chance of a day with only rain increases from 48% to 50%, the chance of a day with mixed snow and rain increases from 3% to 7%, and the chance of a day with only snow remains an essentially constant 2% 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 at Vestmannaeyjar Airport is essentially constant, remaining about 5.9 inches throughout, and rarely exceeding 10.1 inches or falling below 2.5 inches.

The highest average 31-day accumulation is 6.1 inches on February 15.

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 at Vestmannaeyjar Airport is increasing, starting the season at 1.4 inches, when it rarely exceeds 4.3 inches, and ending the season at 3.5 inches, when it rarely exceeds 10.0 inches.

The highest average 31-day accumulation is 4.2 inches on February 4.

Over the course of the winter at Vestmannaeyjar Airport, the length of the day is very rapidly increasing. From the start to the end of the season, the length of the day increases by 4 hours, 52 minutes, implying an average daily increase of 3 minutes, 17 seconds, and weekly increase of 22 minutes, 57 seconds.

The shortest day of the winter is December 21, with 4 hours, 30 minutes of daylight and the longest day is February 28, with 10 hours, 9 minutes of daylight.

The latest sunrise of the winter at Vestmannaeyjar Airport is 11:05 AM on December 25 and the earliest sunrise is 2 hours, 36 minutes earlier at 8:29 AM on February 28.

The earliest sunset is 3:33 PM on December 17 and the latest sunset is 3 hours, 5 minutes later at 6:38 PM on February 28.

Daylight saving time is not observed at Vestmannaeyjar Airport during 2024.

For reference, on June 20, the longest day of the year, the Sun rises at 3:05 AM and sets 20 hours, 36 minutes later, at 11:40 PM, while on December 21, the shortest day of the year, it rises at 11:04 AM and sets 4 hours, 30 minutes later, at 3:34 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 Vestmannaeyjar Airport is essentially constant during the winter, remaining around 0% throughout.

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 Vestmannaeyjar Airport is increasing during the winter, increasing from 18.7 miles per hour to 20.0 miles per hour over the course of the season.

For reference, on December 30, the windiest day of the year, the daily average wind speed is 21.0 miles per hour, while on July 12, the calmest day of the year, the daily average wind speed is 11.6 miles per hour.

The highest daily average wind speed during the winter is 21.0 miles per hour on December 30.

The hourly average wind direction at Vestmannaeyjar Airport throughout the winter is predominantly from the east, with a peak proportion of 35% on December 30.

Vestmannaeyjar Airport 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 at Vestmannaeyjar Airport is essentially constant during the winter, remaining within 1°F of 45°F throughout.

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 Vestmannaeyjar Airport typically lasts for 5.9 months (179 days), from around April 26 to around October 21, rarely starting before April 4 or after May 16, and rarely ending before October 1 or after November 12.

The winter at Vestmannaeyjar Airport 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 at Vestmannaeyjar Airport are gradually decreasing during the winter, decreasing by 168°F, from 168°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 at Vestmannaeyjar Airport is gradually increasing during the winter, rising by 0.8 kWh, from 0.1 kWh to 0.9 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.

For the purposes of this report, the geographical coordinates of Vestmannaeyjar Airport are 63.424 deg latitude, -20.279 deg longitude, and 276 ft elevation.

The topography within 2 miles of Vestmannaeyjar Airport contains very significant variations in elevation, with a maximum elevation change of 860 feet and an average elevation above sea level of 89 feet. Within 10 miles also contains very significant variations in elevation (919 feet). Within 50 miles contains very significant variations in elevation (5,410 feet).

The area within 2 miles of Vestmannaeyjar Airport is covered by water (51%) and shrubs (16%), within 10 miles by water (95%), and within 50 miles by water (68%) and shrubs (10%).