Winter Weather at Shannon Airport Ireland

Daily high temperatures are around 48°F, rarely falling below 40°F or exceeding 56°F. The lowest daily average high temperature is 47°F on January 17.

Daily low temperatures are around 40°F, rarely falling below 30°F or exceeding 49°F. The lowest daily average low temperature is 39°F on February 17.

For reference, on July 26, the hottest day of the year, temperatures at Shannon Airport typically range from 56°F to 67°F, while on February 17, the coldest day of the year, they range from 39°F to 48°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.

Westport, United States (4,575 miles away) is the far-away foreign place with temperatures most similar to Shannon Airport (view comparison).

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The winter at Shannon Airport experiences essentially constant cloud cover, with the percentage of time that the sky is overcast or mostly cloudy remaining about 68% throughout the season. The highest chance of overcast or mostly cloudy conditions is 71% on December 24.

The clearest day of the winter is February 26, with clear, mostly clear, or partly cloudy conditions 35% of the time.

For reference, on December 23, the cloudiest day of the year, the chance of overcast or mostly cloudy conditions is 71%, while on July 10, the clearest day of the year, the chance of clear, mostly clear, or partly cloudy skies is 49%.

A wet day is one with at least 0.04 inches of liquid or liquid-equivalent precipitation. At Shannon Airport, the chance of a wet day over the course of the winter is rapidly decreasing, starting the season at 44% and ending it at 37%.

For reference, the year's highest daily chance of a wet day is 50% on January 8, and its lowest chance is 29% on April 21.

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 Shannon Airport is decreasing, starting the season at 3.5 inches, when it rarely exceeds 5.9 inches or falls below 1.6 inches, and ending the season at 2.6 inches, when it rarely exceeds 4.2 inches or falls below 1.0 inches.

The highest average 31-day accumulation is 3.7 inches on December 29.

Over the course of the winter at Shannon 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 2 hours, 50 minutes, implying an average daily increase of 1 minute, 55 seconds, and weekly increase of 13 minutes, 22 seconds.

The shortest day of the winter is December 21, with 7 hours, 37 minutes of daylight and the longest day is February 28, with 10 hours, 49 minutes of daylight.

The latest sunrise of the winter at Shannon Airport is 8:47 AM on December 29 and the earliest sunrise is 1 hour, 23 minutes earlier at 7:24 AM on February 28.

The earliest sunset is 4:20 PM on December 12 and the latest sunset is 1 hour, 53 minutes later at 6:13 PM on February 28.

Daylight saving time is observed at Shannon Airport 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 5:11 AM and sets 16 hours, 52 minutes later, at 10:03 PM, while on December 21, the shortest day of the year, it rises at 8:45 AM and sets 7 hours, 37 minutes later, at 4:22 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 Shannon Airport 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 1% of the time, while on October 15, 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 Shannon Airport is essentially constant during the winter, remaining within 0.7 miles per hour of 14.4 miles per hour throughout.

For reference, on January 3, the windiest day of the year, the daily average wind speed is 15.1 miles per hour, while on July 25, the calmest day of the year, the daily average wind speed is 10.7 miles per hour.

The highest daily average wind speed during the winter is 15.1 miles per hour on January 3.

The hourly average wind direction at Shannon Airport throughout the winter is predominantly from the west, with a peak proportion of 39% on January 14.

Shannon 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 Shannon Airport is decreasing during the winter, falling by 4°F, from 51°F to 47°F, over the course of the season.

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 Shannon Airport typically lasts for 8.4 months (259 days), from around March 9 to around November 23, rarely starting before January 23 or after April 13, and rarely ending before October 22 or after December 31.

The winter at Shannon Airport 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 8% on January 11.

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 Shannon Airport are very rapidly decreasing during the winter, decreasing by 1,491°F, from 1,507°F to 16°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 Shannon Airport is increasing during the winter, rising by 1.3 kWh, from 0.6 kWh to 1.9 kWh, over the course of the season.

The lowest average daily incident shortwave solar energy during the winter is 0.5 kWh on December 21.

For the purposes of this report, the geographical coordinates of Shannon Airport are 52.702 deg latitude, -8.925 deg longitude, and 3 ft elevation.

The topography within 2 miles of Shannon Airport contains only modest variations in elevation, with a maximum elevation change of 112 feet and an average elevation above sea level of 13 feet. Within 10 miles contains only modest variations in elevation (1,001 feet). Within 50 miles contains very significant variations in elevation (3,068 feet).

The area within 2 miles of Shannon Airport is covered by grassland (39%), water (27%), and artificial surfaces (25%), within 10 miles by grassland (57%) and water (18%), and within 50 miles by grassland (52%) and water (20%).