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Winter Weather at Sodankylä Airfield Finland

Daily 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.

Average High and Low Temperature in the Winter at Sodankylä Airfield

Average High and Low Temperature in the Winter at Sodankylä AirfieldDecJanFeb-30°F-30°F-20°F-20°F-10°F-10°F0°F0°F10°F10°F20°F20°F30°F30°F40°F40°FFallSpringJan 1915°FJan 1915°F-1°F-1°FDec 121°FDec 121°F8°F8°FFeb 2821°FFeb 2821°F4°F4°FJan 117°FJan 117°F1°F1°FFeb 115°FFeb 115°F-1°F-1°F
The daily average high (red line) and low (blue line) temperature, with 25th to 75th and 10th to 90th percentile bands. The thin dotted lines are the corresponding average perceived temperatures.

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.

Average Hourly Temperature in the Winter at Sodankylä Airfield

Average Hourly Temperature in the Winter at Sodankylä AirfieldDecJanFeb12 AM12 AM2 AM2 AM4 AM4 AM6 AM6 AM8 AM8 AM10 AM10 AM12 PM12 PM2 PM2 PM4 PM4 PM6 PM6 PM8 PM8 PM10 PM10 PM12 AM12 AMFallSpringfrigidfreezingfreezing
frigid 15°F freezing 32°F very cold 45°F cold 55°F cool 65°F comfortable 75°F warm 85°F hot 95°F sweltering
The average hourly temperature, color coded into bands. The shaded overlays indicate night and civil twilight.

Bethel, Alaska, United States (3,574 miles away) is the far-away foreign place with temperatures most similar to Sodankylä Airfield (view comparison).

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The 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%.

Cloud Cover Categories in the Winter at Sodankylä Airfield

Cloud Cover Categories in the Winter at Sodankylä AirfieldDecJanFeb0%100%10%90%20%80%30%70%40%60%50%50%60%40%70%30%80%20%90%10%100%0%FallSpringJul 2048%Jul 2048%Dec 117%Dec 117%Feb 2819%Feb 2819%Jan 114%Jan 114%Feb 116%Feb 116%partly cloudymostly cloudyovercastmostly clear
0% clear 20% mostly clear 40% partly cloudy 60% mostly cloudy 80% overcast 100%
The percentage of time spent in each cloud cover band, categorized by the percentage of the sky covered by clouds.

A 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.

Probability of Precipitation in the Winter at Sodankylä Airfield

Probability of Precipitation in the Winter at Sodankylä AirfieldDecJanFeb0%0%5%5%10%10%15%15%20%20%25%25%FallSpringDec 120%Dec 120%Feb 2815%Feb 2815%Jan 120%Jan 120%Feb 117%Feb 117%snowmixedrain
The percentage of days in which various types of precipitation are observed, excluding trace quantities: rain alone, snow alone, and mixed (both rain and snow fell in the same day).

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 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.

Average Monthly Rainfall in the Winter at Sodankylä Airfield

Average Monthly Rainfall in the Winter at Sodankylä AirfieldDecJanFeb0 in0 in1 in1 in2 in2 in3 in3 in4 in4 in5 in5 in6 in6 in7 in7 in8 in8 inFallSpringFeb 130.0 inFeb 130.0 inDec 10.2 inDec 10.2 inFeb 280.1 inFeb 280.1 inJan 10.1 inJan 10.1 inFeb 10.0 inFeb 10.0 in
The average rainfall (solid line) accumulated over the course of a sliding 31-day period centered on the day in question, with 25th to 75th and 10th to 90th percentile bands. The thin dotted line is the corresponding average snowfall.

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 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.

Average Monthly Snowfall in the Winter at Sodankylä Airfield

Average Monthly Snowfall in the Winter at Sodankylä AirfieldDecJanFeb0 in0 in2 in2 in4 in4 in6 in6 in8 in8 in10 in10 in12 in12 in14 in14 inFallSpringJan 117.7 inJan 117.7 inFeb 265.8 inFeb 265.8 inDec 17.2 inDec 17.2 inFeb 17.0 inFeb 17.0 in
The average snowfall (solid line) accumulated over the course of a sliding 31-day period centered on the day in question, with 25th to 75th and 10th to 90th percentile bands. The thin dotted line is the corresponding average rainfall.

Due 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.

Hours of Daylight and Twilight in the Winter at Sodankylä Airfield

Hours of Daylight and Twilight in the Winter at Sodankylä AirfieldDecJanFeb0 hr24 hr4 hr20 hr8 hr16 hr12 hr12 hr16 hr8 hr20 hr4 hr24 hr0 hrFallSpringDec 212 minDec 212 minDec 12 hr, 59 minDec 12 hr, 59 minFeb 289 hr, 45 minFeb 289 hr, 45 minFeb 16 hr, 9 minFeb 16 hr, 9 min
The number of hours during which the Sun is visible (black line). From bottom (most yellow) to top (most gray), the color bands indicate: full daylight, twilight (civil, nautical, and astronomical), and full night.

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.

Sunrise & Sunset with Twilight and Daylight Saving Time in the Winter at Sodankylä Airfield

Sunrise & Sunset with Twilight and Daylight Saving Time in the Winter at Sodankylä AirfieldDecJanFeb12 AM2 AM4 AM6 AM8 AM10 AM12 PM2 PM4 PM6 PM8 PM10 PM12 AMFallSpring12:10 PM12:10 PMDec 2012:12 PMDec 2012:12 PM7:34 AM7:34 AMFeb 285:19 PMFeb 285:19 PM10:33 AM10:33 AMDec 11:31 PMDec 11:31 PM9:23 AM9:23 AMFeb 13:32 PMFeb 13:32 PMSolarMidnightSolarMidnightSolarNoonSunriseSunset
The solar day in the winter. From bottom to top, the black lines are the previous solar midnight, sunrise, solar noon, sunset, and the next solar midnight. The day, twilights (civil, nautical, and astronomical), and night are indicated by the color bands from yellow to gray.

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.

Solar Elevation and Azimuth in the Winter at Sodankylä Airfield

Solar Elevation and Azimuth in the Winter at Sodankylä AirfieldDecJanFeb12 AM12 AM2 AM2 AM4 AM4 AM6 AM6 AM8 AM8 AM10 AM10 AM12 PM12 PM2 PM2 PM4 PM4 PM6 PM6 PM8 PM8 PM10 PM10 PM12 AM12 AMFallSpring00
northeastsouthwest
Solar elevation and azimuth in the the winter of 2024. The black lines are lines of constant solar elevation (the angle of the sun above the horizon, in degrees). The background color fills indicate the azimuth (the compass bearing) of the sun. The lightly tinted areas at the boundaries of the cardinal compass points indicate the implied intermediate directions (northeast, southeast, southwest, and northwest).

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.

Moon Rise, Set & Phases in the Winter at Sodankylä Airfield

Moon Rise, Set & Phases in the Winter at Sodankylä AirfieldDecJanFeb12 AM12 AM4 AM4 AM8 AM8 AM12 PM12 PM4 PM4 PM8 PM8 PM12 AM12 AMFallSpringNov 12:48 PMNov 12:48 PMNov 1511:29 PMNov 1511:29 PMDec 1511:02 AMDec 1511:02 AMJan 1412:28 AMJan 1412:28 AMJan 292:37 PMJan 292:37 PMFeb 123:54 PMFeb 123:54 PMFeb 282:45 AMFeb 282:45 AMMar 148:55 AMMar 148:55 AMMar 2912:58 PMMar 2912:58 PM8:38 AM8:38 AM2:38 PM2:38 PM12:00 AM12:00 AM12:00 AM12:00 AM12:00 AM12:00 AM12:00 AM12:00 AM12:00 AM12:00 AM3:32 PM3:32 PM9:09 AM9:09 AM7:57 AM7:57 AM6:50 AM6:50 AM5:38 AM5:38 AM
The time in which the moon is above the horizon (light blue area), with new moons (dark gray lines) and full moons (blue lines) indicated. The shaded overlays indicate night and civil twilight.

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 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.

Humidity Comfort Levels in the Winter at Sodankylä Airfield

Humidity Comfort Levels in the Winter at Sodankylä AirfieldDecJanFeb0%0%10%10%20%20%30%30%40%40%50%50%60%60%70%70%80%80%90%90%100%100%FallSpringJan 150%Jan 150%Dec 10%Dec 10%Feb 280%Feb 280%Jan 10%Jan 10%Feb 10%Feb 10%drydry
dry 55°F comfortable 60°F humid 65°F muggy 70°F oppressive 75°F miserable
The percentage of time spent at various humidity comfort levels, categorized by dew point.

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 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.

Average Wind Speed in the Winter at Sodankylä Airfield

Average Wind Speed in the Winter at Sodankylä AirfieldDecJanFeb0 mph0 mph2 mph2 mph4 mph4 mph6 mph6 mph8 mph8 mph10 mph10 mphFallSpringDec 15.7 mphDec 15.7 mphFeb 286.6 mphFeb 286.6 mphJan 16.3 mphJan 16.3 mphFeb 16.5 mphFeb 16.5 mph
The average of mean hourly wind speeds (dark gray line), with 25th to 75th and 10th to 90th percentile bands.

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.

Wind Direction in the Winter at Sodankylä Airfield

Wind Direction in the Winter at Sodankylä AirfieldDecJanFeb0%100%20%80%40%60%60%40%80%20%100%0%FallSpringwestsouthnortheast
northeastsouthwest
The percentage of hours in which the mean wind direction is from each of the four cardinal wind directions, excluding hours in which the mean wind speed is less than 1.0 mph. The lightly tinted areas at the boundaries are the percentage of hours spent in the implied intermediate directions (northeast, southeast, southwest, and northwest).

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 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.

Time Spent in Various Temperature Bands and the Growing Season in the Winter at Sodankylä Airfield

Time Spent in Various Temperature Bands and the Growing Season in the Winter at Sodankylä AirfieldDecJanFeb0%100%10%90%20%80%30%70%40%60%50%50%60%40%70%30%80%20%90%10%100%0%FallSpring0%Jan 150%Jan 15frigidfreezingvery cold
frigid 15°F freezing 32°F very cold 45°F cold 55°F cool 65°F comfortable 75°F warm 85°F hot 95°F sweltering
The percentage of time spent in various temperature bands. The black line is the percentage chance that a given day is within 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.

Growing Degree Days in the Winter at Sodankylä Airfield

Growing Degree Days in the Winter at Sodankylä AirfieldDecJanFeb0°F0°F100°F100°F200°F200°F300°F300°F400°F400°F500°F500°F600°F600°F700°F700°F800°F800°FFallSpringDec 1677°FDec 1677°FFeb 280°FFeb 280°F
The average growing degree days accumulated over the course of the winter, with 25th to 75th and 10th to 90th percentile bands.

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 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.

Average Daily Incident Shortwave Solar Energy in the Winter at Sodankylä Airfield

Average Daily Incident Shortwave Solar Energy in the Winter at Sodankylä AirfieldDecJanFeb0.0 kWh0.0 kWh0.5 kWh0.5 kWh1.0 kWh1.0 kWh1.5 kWh1.5 kWh2.0 kWh2.0 kWh2.5 kWh2.5 kWh3.0 kWh3.0 kWhFallSpringDec 220.0 kWhDec 220.0 kWhDec 10.0 kWhDec 10.0 kWhFeb 280.8 kWhFeb 280.8 kWhFeb 10.2 kWhFeb 10.2 kWh
The average daily shortwave solar energy reaching the ground per square meter (orange line), with 25th to 75th and 10th to 90th percentile bands.

For 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%).

This 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 Point

Sodankylä 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 Data

All 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.

Disclaimer

The 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.

We further caution that our travel scores are only as good as the data that underpin them, that weather conditions at any given location and time are unpredictable and variable, and that the definition of the scores reflects a particular set of preferences that may not agree with those of any particular reader.

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