Winter Weather at Sodankylä Airfield FinlandDaily high temperatures are around 18°F, rarely falling below -6°F or exceeding 34°F. The lowest daily average high temperature is 15°F on January 26. Daily low temperatures decrease by 4°F, from 8°F to 4°F, rarely falling below -25°F or exceeding 28°F. The lowest daily average low temperature is -1°F on January 25. For reference, on July 21, the hottest day of the year, temperatures at Sodankylä Airfield typically range from 49°F to 66°F, while on January 25, the coldest day of the year, they range from -1°F to 15°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. Bethel, Alaska, United States (3,574 miles away) is the far-away foreign place with temperatures most similar to Sodankylä Airfield (view comparison). CloudsThe winter at Sodankylä Airfield experiences essentially constant cloud cover, with the percentage of time that the sky is overcast or mostly cloudy remaining about 83% throughout the season. The highest chance of overcast or mostly cloudy conditions is 86% on January 3. The clearest day of the winter is February 28, with clear, mostly clear, or partly cloudy conditions 19% of the time. For reference, on January 2, the cloudiest day of the year, the chance of overcast or mostly cloudy conditions is 86%, while on July 20, the clearest day of the year, the chance of clear, mostly clear, or partly cloudy skies is 48%. PrecipitationA wet day is one with at least 0.04 inches of liquid or liquid-equivalent precipitation. At Sodankylä Airfield, the chance of a wet day over the course of the winter is decreasing, starting the season at 20% and ending it at 15%. For reference, the year's highest daily chance of a wet day is 37% on July 13, and its lowest chance is 13% on March 3. Over the course of the winter at Sodankylä Airfield, the chance of a day with only rain decreases from 3% to 1%, the chance of a day with mixed snow and rain remains an essentially constant 2% throughout, and the chance of a day with only snow remains an essentially constant 15% throughout. RainfallTo 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 Sodankylä Airfield is essentially constant, remaining about 0.1 inches throughout, and rarely exceeding 0.5 inches. The lowest average 31-day accumulation is 0.0 inches on February 13. SnowfallAs 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 Sodankylä Airfield is decreasing, starting the season at 7.2 inches, when it rarely exceeds 12.0 inches or falls below 2.2 inches, and ending the season at 5.9 inches, when it rarely exceeds 11.4 inches or falls below 1.3 inches. The highest average 31-day accumulation is 7.7 inches on January 12. The lowest average 31-day accumulation is 5.8 inches on February 26. SunDue to its extreme latitude, Sodankylä Airfield experiences polar day (also known as the midnight Sun) during the summer and polar night during the winter. These are periods of time in which the sun is continuously above or below the horizon for more than one day. The precise start and end dates of polar day and night vary from year to year and depend on the precise location and elevation of the observer, and the local topography. In the winter at Sodankylä Airfield during 2024, the Sun is continuously below the horizon for 2.0 days, setting at 12:12 PM on December 20, and not rising again until 12:11 PM on December 22. As such, polar night begins and ends during the winter. The longest day of the winter is February 28, with 9 hours, 45 minutes of daylight. The latest sunrise of the winter at Sodankylä Airfield is 12:11 PM on December 22 and the earliest sunrise is 4 hours, 37 minutes earlier at 7:34 AM on February 28. The earliest sunset is 12:12 PM on December 20 and the latest sunset is 5 hours, 7 minutes later at 5:19 PM on February 28. Daylight saving time is observed at Sodankylä Airfield during 2024, but it neither starts nor ends during the winter, so the entire season is in daylight saving time. 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. MoonThe 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. HumidityWe 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 Sodankylä Airfield is essentially constant during the winter, remaining around 0% throughout. For reference, on July 14, the muggiest day of the year, there are muggy conditions 0% of the time, while on January 1, the least muggy day of the year, there are muggy conditions 0% of the time. WindThis 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 Sodankylä Airfield is gradually increasing during the winter, increasing from 5.7 miles per hour to 6.6 miles per hour over the course of the season. For reference, on March 7, the windiest day of the year, the daily average wind speed is 6.6 miles per hour, while on August 9, the calmest day of the year, the daily average wind speed is 4.0 miles per hour. The hourly average wind direction at Sodankylä Airfield throughout the winter is predominantly from the south, with a peak proportion of 45% on February 23. Growing SeasonDefinitions 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 Sodankylä Airfield typically lasts for 3.0 months (93 days), from around May 27 to around August 27, rarely starting before May 8 or after June 13, and rarely ending before August 9 or after September 16. The winter at Sodankylä Airfield 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 Sodankylä Airfield are rapidly decreasing during the winter, decreasing by 677°F, from 677°F to 0°F, over the course of the season. Solar EnergyThis 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 Sodankylä Airfield is gradually increasing during the winter, rising by 0.8 kWh, from 0.0 kWh to 0.8 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. TopographyFor the purposes of this report, the geographical coordinates of Sodankylä Airfield are 67.395 deg latitude, 26.619 deg longitude, and 597 ft elevation. The topography within 2 miles of Sodankylä Airfield contains only modest variations in elevation, with a maximum elevation change of 197 feet and an average elevation above sea level of 603 feet. Within 10 miles contains only modest variations in elevation (610 feet). Within 50 miles contains significant variations in elevation (1,598 feet). The area within 2 miles of Sodankylä Airfield is covered by trees (69%), artificial surfaces (15%), and herbaceous vegetation (12%), within 10 miles by trees (83%) and herbaceous vegetation (13%), and within 50 miles by trees (80%) and herbaceous vegetation (15%). Data SourcesThis report illustrates the typical weather at Sodankylä Airfield, based on a statistical analysis of historical hourly weather reports and model reconstructions from January 1, 1980 to December 31, 2016. Temperature and Dew PointSodankylä Airfield has a weather station that reported reliably enough during the analysis period that we have included it in our network. When available, historical temperature and dew point measurements are taken directly from this weather station. These records are obtained from NOAA's Integrated Surface Hourly data set, falling back on ICAO METAR records as required. In the case of missing or erroneous measurements from this station, we fall back on records from nearby stations, adjusted according to typical seasonal and diurnal intra-station differences. For a given day of the year and hour of the day, the fallback station is selected to minimize the prediction error over the years for which there are measurements for both stations. The stations on which we may fall back are Rovaniemi Airport, Ivalo Airport, Kittilä Airport, Pello, and Enontekiö Airport. Other DataAll data relating to the Sun's position (e.g., sunrise and sunset) are computed using astronomical formulas from the book, Astronomical Algorithms 2nd Edition , by Jean Meeus. All other weather data, including cloud cover, precipitation, wind speed and direction, and solar flux, come from NASA's MERRA-2 Modern-Era Retrospective Analysis . This reanalysis combines a variety of wide-area measurements in a state-of-the-art global meteorological model to reconstruct the hourly history of weather throughout the world on a 50-kilometer grid. Land Use data comes from the Global Land Cover SHARE database , published by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. Elevation data comes from the Shuttle Radar Topography Mission (SRTM) , published by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Names, locations, and time zones of places and some airports come from the GeoNames Geographical Database . Time zones for airports and weather stations are provided by AskGeo.com . Maps are © OpenStreetMap contributors. DisclaimerThe information on this site is provided as is, without any assurances as to its accuracy or suitability for any purpose. Weather data is prone to errors, outages, and other defects. We assume no responsibility for any decisions made on the basis of the content presented on this site. We draw particular cautious attention to our reliance on the MERRA-2 model-based reconstructions for a number of important data series. While having the tremendous advantages of temporal and spatial completeness, these reconstructions: (1) are based on computer models that may have model-based errors, (2) are coarsely sampled on a 50 km grid and are therefore unable to reconstruct the local variations of many microclimates, and (3) have particular difficulty with the weather in some coastal areas, especially small islands. 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