Winter Weather at White Mountain Airport United States

Daily high temperatures are around 16°F, rarely falling below -10°F or exceeding 36°F. The lowest daily average high temperature is 14°F on January 18.

Daily low temperatures are around 4°F, rarely falling below -24°F or exceeding 27°F. The lowest daily average low temperature is 1°F on January 19.

For reference, on June 29, the hottest day of the year, temperatures at White Mountain Airport typically range from 48°F to 63°F, while on January 19, the coldest day of the year, they range from 1°F to 14°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.

Muonio, Finland (3,269 miles away) is the far-away foreign place with temperatures most similar to White Mountain Airport (view comparison).

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The winter at White Mountain Airport experiences essentially constant cloud cover, with the percentage of time that the sky is overcast or mostly cloudy remaining about 67% throughout the season. The highest chance of overcast or mostly cloudy conditions is 72% on January 7.

The clearest day of the winter is February 28, with clear, mostly clear, or partly cloudy conditions 37% of the time.

For reference, on January 7, the cloudiest day of the year, the chance of overcast or mostly cloudy conditions is 72%, while on May 27, the clearest day of the year, the chance of clear, mostly clear, or partly cloudy skies is 44%.

A wet day is one with at least 0.04 inches of liquid or liquid-equivalent precipitation. At White Mountain Airport, the chance of a wet day over the course of the winter is essentially constant, remaining around 16% throughout.

For reference, the year's highest daily chance of a wet day is 37% on August 9, and its lowest chance is 10% on March 16.

Over the course of the winter at White Mountain Airport, the chance of a day with only rain remains an essentially constant 2% throughout, the chance of a day with mixed snow and rain remains an essentially constant 4% throughout, and the chance of a day with only snow remains an essentially constant 11% 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 White Mountain Airport is essentially constant, remaining about 0.3 inches throughout, and rarely exceeding 1.1 inches.

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 White Mountain Airport is decreasing, starting the season at 7.0 inches, when it rarely exceeds 14.7 inches or falls below 1.2 inches, and ending the season at 5.6 inches, when it rarely exceeds 12.4 inches or falls below 0.1 inches.

The highest average 31-day accumulation is 7.6 inches on December 28.

Over the course of the winter at White Mountain 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 5 hours, 24 minutes, implying an average daily increase of 3 minutes, 38 seconds, and weekly increase of 25 minutes, 27 seconds.

The shortest day of the winter is December 20, with 3 hours, 47 minutes of daylight and the longest day is February 28, with 10 hours, 5 minutes of daylight.

The latest sunrise of the winter at White Mountain Airport is 11:59 AM on December 24 and the earliest sunrise is 2 hours, 55 minutes earlier at 9:04 AM on February 28.

The earliest sunset is 3:44 PM on December 17 and the latest sunset is 3 hours, 25 minutes later at 7:09 PM on February 28.

Daylight saving time is observed at White Mountain 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 4:05 AM and sets 21 hours, 40 minutes later, at 1:45 AM, while on December 21, the shortest day of the year, it rises at 11:58 AM and sets 3 hours, 47 minutes later, at 3:45 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 White Mountain Airport is essentially constant during the winter, remaining around 0% throughout.

For reference, on June 28, 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.

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 White Mountain Airport is essentially constant during the winter, remaining within 0.4 miles per hour of 14.2 miles per hour throughout.

For reference, on February 12, the windiest day of the year, the daily average wind speed is 14.6 miles per hour, while on June 21, the calmest day of the year, the daily average wind speed is 8.2 miles per hour.

The highest daily average wind speed during the winter is 14.6 miles per hour on February 12.

The wind direction at White Mountain Airport during the winter is predominantly out of the north from December 1 to December 30 and from January 10 to February 28 and the east from December 30 to January 10.

White Mountain 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 White Mountain Airport is essentially constant during the winter, remaining around 30°F throughout.

The lowest average surface water temperature during the winter is 30°F on January 9.

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 White Mountain Airport typically lasts for 3.4 months (105 days), from around May 26 to around September 9, rarely starting before May 9 or after June 14, and rarely ending before August 16 or after October 2.

The winter at White Mountain 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 White Mountain Airport are rapidly decreasing during the winter, decreasing by 539°F, from 539°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 White Mountain Airport is increasing during the winter, rising by 1.2 kWh, from 0.1 kWh to 1.3 kWh, over the course of the season.

The lowest average daily incident shortwave solar energy during the winter is 0.0 kWh on December 20.