Winter Weather in Ann Arbor Michigan, United States

Daily high temperatures are around 36°F, rarely falling below 17°F or exceeding 55°F. The lowest daily average high temperature is 31°F on January 22.

Daily low temperatures decrease by 5°F, from 29°F to 23°F, rarely falling below 1°F or exceeding 40°F. The lowest daily average low temperature is 17°F on January 29.

For reference, on July 18, the hottest day of the year, temperatures in Ann Arbor typically range from 63°F to 84°F, while on January 29, the coldest day of the year, they range from 17°F to 31°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.

Novopavlovsk, Russia (5,654 miles away) is the far-away foreign place with temperatures most similar to Ann Arbor (view comparison).

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The winter in Ann Arbor experiences essentially constant cloud cover, with the percentage of time that the sky is overcast or mostly cloudy remaining about 61% throughout the season. The highest chance of overcast or mostly cloudy conditions is 64% on January 10.

The clearest day of the winter is February 28, with clear, mostly clear, or partly cloudy conditions 42% of the time.

For reference, on January 10, the cloudiest day of the year, the chance of overcast or mostly cloudy conditions is 64%, while on August 22, the clearest day of the year, the chance of clear, mostly clear, or partly cloudy skies is 67%.

A wet day is one with at least 0.04 inches of liquid or liquid-equivalent precipitation. In Ann Arbor, the chance of a wet day over the course of the winter is gradually decreasing, starting the season at 24% and ending it at 21%.

For reference, the year's highest daily chance of a wet day is 35% on June 14, and its lowest chance is 16% on February 2.

Over the course of the winter in Ann Arbor, the chance of a day with only rain decreases from 17% to 10%, 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 increases from 3% to 7%.

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 Ann Arbor is decreasing, starting the season at 1.7 inches, when it rarely exceeds 2.8 inches or falls below 0.6 inches, and ending the season at 1.1 inches, when it rarely exceeds 2.4 inches or falls below 0.2 inches.

The lowest average 31-day accumulation is 0.7 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 Ann Arbor is increasing, starting the season at 2.9 inches, when it rarely exceeds 7.6 inches, and ending the season at 5.3 inches, when it rarely exceeds 10.9 inches or falls below 0.5 inches.

The highest average 31-day accumulation is 6.0 inches on February 10.

Over the course of the winter in Ann Arbor, 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, 54 minutes, implying an average daily increase of 1 minute, 17 seconds, and weekly increase of 8 minutes, 59 seconds.

The shortest day of the winter is December 21, with 9 hours, 5 minutes of daylight and the longest day is February 28, with 11 hours, 13 minutes of daylight.

The latest sunrise of the winter in Ann Arbor is 8:04 AM on January 2 and the earliest sunrise is 53 minutes earlier at 7:11 AM on February 28.

The earliest sunset is 5:02 PM on December 8 and the latest sunset is 1 hour, 22 minutes later at 6:24 PM on February 28.

Daylight saving time is observed in Ann Arbor during 2024, but it neither starts nor ends during the winter, so the entire season is in standard time.

For reference, on June 20, the longest day of the year, the Sun rises at 5:58 AM and sets 15 hours, 17 minutes later, at 9:15 PM, while on December 21, the shortest day of the year, it rises at 8:00 AM and sets 9 hours, 5 minutes later, at 5:05 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 Ann Arbor is essentially constant during the winter, remaining around 0% throughout.

For reference, on July 31, the muggiest day of the year, there are muggy conditions 34% 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 Ann Arbor is gradually increasing during the winter, increasing from 11.9 miles per hour to 12.4 miles per hour over the course of the season.

For reference, on January 15, the windiest day of the year, the daily average wind speed is 12.8 miles per hour, while on August 3, the calmest day of the year, the daily average wind speed is 7.9 miles per hour.

The highest daily average wind speed during the winter is 12.8 miles per hour on January 15.

The hourly average wind direction in Ann Arbor throughout the winter is predominantly from the west, with a peak proportion of 47% on December 12.

Ann Arbor 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 Ann Arbor is rapidly decreasing during the winter, falling by 9°F, from 43°F to 34°F, over the course of the season.

The lowest average surface water temperature during the winter is 34°F on February 18.

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 Ann Arbor typically lasts for 5.7 months (173 days), from around April 24 to around October 14, rarely starting before April 7 or after May 12, and rarely ending before September 25 or after November 1.

The winter in Ann Arbor 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 Ann Arbor are very rapidly decreasing during the winter, decreasing by 2,963°F, from 2,968°F to 5°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 Ann Arbor is rapidly increasing during the winter, rising by 1.6 kWh, from 1.6 kWh to 3.2 kWh, over the course of the season.

The lowest average daily incident shortwave solar energy during the winter is 1.5 kWh on December 19.

For the purposes of this report, the geographical coordinates of Ann Arbor are 42.278 deg latitude, -83.741 deg longitude, and 873 ft elevation.

The topography within 2 miles of Ann Arbor contains only modest variations in elevation, with a maximum elevation change of 243 feet and an average elevation above sea level of 861 feet. Within 10 miles also contains only modest variations in elevation (384 feet). Within 50 miles contains only modest variations in elevation (801 feet).

The area within 2 miles of Ann Arbor is covered by artificial surfaces (98%), within 10 miles by cropland (51%) and artificial surfaces (30%), and within 50 miles by cropland (49%) and artificial surfaces (24%).