Winter Weather in Long Island United States

Daily high temperatures decrease by 6°F, from 48°F to 43°F, rarely falling below 26°F or exceeding 59°F. The lowest daily average high temperature is 38°F on January 30.

Daily low temperatures decrease by 5°F, from 33°F to 27°F, rarely falling below 9°F or exceeding 46°F. The lowest daily average low temperature is 23°F on January 30.

For reference, on July 20, the hottest day of the year, temperatures in Long Island typically range from 65°F to 81°F, while on January 30, the coldest day of the year, they range from 23°F to 38°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.

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The winter in Long Island experiences essentially constant cloud cover, with the percentage of time that the sky is overcast or mostly cloudy remaining about 50% throughout the season. The highest chance of overcast or mostly cloudy conditions is 52% on January 3.

The clearest day of the winter is December 1, with clear, mostly clear, or partly cloudy conditions 52% of the time.

For reference, on January 3, the cloudiest day of the year, the chance of overcast or mostly cloudy conditions is 52%, while on September 22, the clearest day of the year, the chance of clear, mostly clear, or partly cloudy skies is 63%.

A wet day is one with at least 0.04 inches of liquid or liquid-equivalent precipitation. In Long Island, the chance of a wet day over the course of the winter is essentially constant, remaining around 27% throughout.

For reference, the year's highest daily chance of a wet day is 31% on December 15, and its lowest chance is 22% on July 2.

Over the course of the winter in Long Island, the chance of a day with only rain decreases from 26% to 19%, the chance of a day with mixed snow and rain increases from 2% to 6%, 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 in Long Island is decreasing, starting the season at 3.8 inches, when it rarely exceeds 6.5 inches or falls below 1.5 inches, and ending the season at 3.0 inches, when it rarely exceeds 5.3 inches or falls below 1.3 inches.

The lowest average 31-day accumulation is 2.6 inches on January 29.

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 in Long Island is increasing, starting the season at 1.7 inches, when it rarely exceeds 5.1 inches or falls below -0.0 inches, and ending the season at 4.6 inches, when it rarely exceeds 13.1 inches or falls below 0.1 inches.

The highest average 31-day accumulation is 5.6 inches on January 22.

Over the course of the winter in Long Island, the length of the day is rapidly increasing. From the start to the end of the season, the length of the day increases by 1 hour, 48 minutes, implying an average daily increase of 1 minute, 13 seconds, and weekly increase of 8 minutes, 30 seconds.

The shortest day of the winter is December 21, with 9 hours, 15 minutes of daylight and the longest day is February 28, with 11 hours, 15 minutes of daylight.

The latest sunrise of the winter in Long Island is 7:16 AM on January 3 and the earliest sunrise is 49 minutes earlier at 6:27 AM on February 28.

The earliest sunset is 4:24 PM on December 6 and the latest sunset is 1 hour, 18 minutes later at 5:42 PM on February 28.

Daylight saving time is observed in Long Island 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 5:20 AM and sets 15 hours, 6 minutes later, at 8:27 PM, while on December 21, the shortest day of the year, it rises at 7:13 AM and sets 9 hours, 15 minutes later, at 4:27 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 in Long Island is essentially constant during the winter, remaining around 0% throughout.

For reference, on August 1, the muggiest day of the year, there are muggy conditions 54% 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 in Long Island is essentially constant during the winter, remaining within 0.5 miles per hour of 14.5 miles per hour throughout.

For reference, on January 13, the windiest day of the year, the daily average wind speed is 15.0 miles per hour, while on July 24, the calmest day of the year, the daily average wind speed is 8.9 miles per hour.

The highest daily average wind speed during the winter is 15.0 miles per hour on January 13.

The hourly average wind direction in Long Island throughout the winter is predominantly from the west, with a peak proportion of 44% on December 29.

Long Island 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 in Long Island is very rapidly decreasing during the winter, falling by 13°F, from 51°F to 39°F, over the course of the season.

The lowest average surface water temperature during the winter is 39°F on February 26.

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 in Long Island typically lasts for 6.0 months (183 days), from around April 26 to around October 25, rarely starting before April 4 or after May 16, and rarely ending before October 8 or after November 12.

The winter in Long Island 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 in Long Island are very rapidly decreasing during the winter, decreasing by 2,930°F, from 2,936°F to 6°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 in Long Island is increasing during the winter, rising by 1.4 kWh, from 2.0 kWh to 3.4 kWh, over the course of the season.

The lowest average daily incident shortwave solar energy during the winter is 1.7 kWh on December 23.

For the purposes of this report, the geographical coordinates of Long Island are 40.817 deg latitude, -73.066 deg longitude, and 0 ft elevation.

The topography within 2 miles of Long Island is essentially flat, with a maximum elevation change of 0 feet and an average elevation above sea level of 0 feet. Within 10 miles is also essentially flat (0 feet). Within 50 miles is also essentially flat (0 feet).

The area within 2 miles of Long Island is covered by artificial surfaces (100%), within 10 miles by artificial surfaces (67%) and water (18%), and within 50 miles by water (61%) and artificial surfaces (19%).