Winter Weather in Costa Blanca SpainDaily high temperatures are around 63°F, rarely falling below 55°F or exceeding 72°F. The lowest daily average high temperature is 62°F on January 21. Daily low temperatures are around 47°F, rarely falling below 37°F or exceeding 55°F. The lowest daily average low temperature is 45°F on January 21. For reference, on August 10, the hottest day of the year, temperatures in Costa Blanca typically range from 72°F to 87°F, while on January 21, the coldest day of the year, they range from 45°F to 62°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. CloudsThe winter in Costa Blanca experiences essentially constant cloud cover, with the percentage of time that the sky is overcast or mostly cloudy remaining about 38% throughout the season. The lowest chance of overcast or mostly cloudy conditions is 36% on February 3. The clearest day of the winter is February 3, with clear, mostly clear, or partly cloudy conditions 64% of the time. For reference, on October 29, the cloudiest day of the year, the chance of overcast or mostly cloudy conditions is 44%, while on July 19, the clearest day of the year, the chance of clear, mostly clear, or partly cloudy skies is 91%. PrecipitationA wet day is one with at least 0.04 inches of liquid or liquid-equivalent precipitation. In Costa Blanca, the chance of a wet day over the course of the winter is essentially constant, remaining around 11% throughout. For reference, the year's highest daily chance of a wet day is 15% on November 18, and its lowest chance is 1% on August 2. 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 in Costa Blanca is essentially constant, remaining about 0.8 inches throughout, and rarely exceeding 2.1 inches. The lowest average 31-day accumulation is 0.7 inches on January 19. SunOver the course of the winter in Costa Blanca, 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, 38 minutes, implying an average daily increase of 1 minute, 6 seconds, and weekly increase of 7 minutes, 41 seconds. The shortest day of the winter is December 21, with 9 hours, 30 minutes of daylight and the longest day is February 28, with 11 hours, 19 minutes of daylight. The latest sunrise of the winter in Costa Blanca is 8:19 AM on January 5 and the earliest sunrise is 44 minutes earlier at 7:35 AM on February 28. The earliest sunset is 5:41 PM on December 6 and the latest sunset is 1 hour, 13 minutes later at 6:54 PM on February 28. Daylight saving time is observed in Costa Blanca 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 6:38 AM and sets 14 hours, 50 minutes later, at 9:28 PM, while on December 21, the shortest day of the year, it rises at 8:15 AM and sets 9 hours, 30 minutes later, at 5:44 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. 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 in Costa Blanca is essentially constant during the winter, remaining around 0% throughout. For reference, on August 6, the muggiest day of the year, there are muggy conditions 72% of the time, while on January 8, 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 in Costa Blanca is essentially constant during the winter, remaining within 0.2 miles per hour of 10.2 miles per hour throughout. For reference, on February 21, the windiest day of the year, the daily average wind speed is 10.4 miles per hour, while on August 3, the calmest day of the year, the daily average wind speed is 7.7 miles per hour. The highest daily average wind speed during the winter is 10.4 miles per hour on February 21. The wind direction in Costa Blanca during the winter is predominantly out of the north from December 1 to December 18, from January 17 to February 9, and from February 20 to February 28 and the west from December 18 to January 17 and from February 9 to February 20. Water TemperatureCosta Blanca 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 Costa Blanca is decreasing during the winter, falling by 6°F, from 63°F to 57°F, over the course of the season. The lowest average surface water temperature during the winter is 57°F 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). Temperatures in Costa Blanca are sufficiently warm year round that it is not entirely meaningful to discuss the growing season in these terms. We nevertheless include the chart below as an illustration of the distribution of temperatures experienced throughout the year. 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 Costa Blanca are very rapidly decreasing during the winter, decreasing by 5,202°F, from 5,497°F to 295°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 in Costa Blanca is rapidly increasing during the winter, rising by 1.7 kWh, from 2.5 kWh to 4.2 kWh, over the course of the season. The lowest average daily incident shortwave solar energy during the winter is 2.3 kWh on December 16. TopographyFor the purposes of this report, the geographical coordinates of Costa Blanca are 38.342 deg latitude, -0.468 deg longitude, and 0 ft elevation. The topography within 2 miles of Costa Blanca 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 Costa Blanca is covered by water (67%) and artificial surfaces (28%), within 10 miles by water (47%) and cropland (28%), and within 50 miles by water (44%) and cropland (30%). Data SourcesThis report illustrates the typical weather in Costa Blanca, based on a statistical analysis of historical hourly weather reports and model reconstructions from January 1, 1980 to December 31, 2016. The details of the data sources used for this report can be found on the Alicante Airport page. 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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