Winter Weather in Kodiak United StatesDaily high temperatures are around 37°F, rarely falling below 25°F or exceeding 44°F. The lowest daily average high temperature is 36°F on January 21. Daily low temperatures are around 29°F, rarely falling below 14°F or exceeding 39°F. The lowest daily average low temperature is 28°F on February 7. For reference, on August 9, the hottest day of the year, temperatures in Kodiak typically range from 51°F to 62°F, while on February 7, the coldest day of the year, they range from 28°F to 36°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. Rørvik, Norway (3,923 miles away) is the far-away foreign place with temperatures most similar to Kodiak (view comparison). CloudsThe winter in Kodiak experiences essentially constant cloud cover, with the percentage of time that the sky is overcast or mostly cloudy remaining about 62% throughout the season. The highest chance of overcast or mostly cloudy conditions is 65% on January 22. 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 22, the cloudiest day of the year, the chance of overcast or mostly cloudy conditions is 65%, while on October 23, the clearest day of the year, the chance of clear, mostly clear, or partly cloudy skies is 48%. PrecipitationA wet day is one with at least 0.04 inches of liquid or liquid-equivalent precipitation. In Kodiak, the chance of a wet day over the course of the winter is gradually decreasing, starting the season at 41% and ending it at 38%. For reference, the year's highest daily chance of a wet day is 45% on December 17, and its lowest chance is 29% on July 16. Over the course of the winter in Kodiak, the chance of a day with only rain decreases from 33% to 31%, the chance of a day with mixed snow and rain remains an essentially constant 5% throughout, and the chance of a day with only snow remains an essentially constant 3% throughout. 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 Kodiak is decreasing, starting the season at 3.8 inches, when it rarely exceeds 6.4 inches or falls below 1.7 inches, and ending the season at 2.9 inches, when it rarely exceeds 5.1 inches or falls below 0.9 inches. The highest average 31-day accumulation is 4.2 inches on January 16. SnowfallAs 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 Kodiak is gradually decreasing, starting the season at 3.4 inches, when it rarely exceeds 8.9 inches, and ending the season at 2.7 inches, when it rarely exceeds 6.8 inches. The highest average 31-day accumulation is 3.6 inches on December 13. SunOver the course of the winter in Kodiak, 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 3 hours, 36 minutes, implying an average daily increase of 2 minutes, 26 seconds, and weekly increase of 17 minutes, 1 second. The shortest day of the winter is December 21, with 6 hours, 31 minutes of daylight and the longest day is February 28, with 10 hours, 35 minutes of daylight. The latest sunrise of the winter in Kodiak is 9:54 AM on December 27 and the earliest sunrise is 1 hour, 49 minutes earlier at 8:05 AM on February 28. The earliest sunset is 4:21 PM on December 14 and the latest sunset is 2 hours, 18 minutes later at 6:40 PM on February 28. Daylight saving time is observed in Kodiak 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 5:07 AM and sets 18 hours, 7 minutes later, at 11:15 PM, while on December 21, the shortest day of the year, it rises at 9:52 AM and sets 6 hours, 31 minutes later, at 4:23 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 Kodiak 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. 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 Kodiak is essentially constant during the winter, remaining within 0.5 miles per hour of 16.4 miles per hour throughout. For reference, on December 28, the windiest day of the year, the daily average wind speed is 16.9 miles per hour, while on July 15, the calmest day of the year, the daily average wind speed is 9.0 miles per hour. The highest daily average wind speed during the winter is 16.9 miles per hour on December 29. The wind direction in Kodiak during the winter is predominantly out of the west from December 1 to December 26, the east from December 26 to February 14, and the north from February 14 to February 28. Water TemperatureKodiak 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 Kodiak is gradually decreasing during the winter, falling by 3°F, from 42°F to 39°F, over the course of the season. 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). The growing season in Kodiak typically lasts for 5.2 months (156 days), from around April 30 to around October 3, rarely starting before April 8 or after May 23, and rarely ending before September 18 or after October 18. The winter in Kodiak 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 Kodiak are rapidly decreasing during the winter, decreasing by 490°F, from 490°F to 0°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 Kodiak is increasing during the winter, rising by 1.3 kWh, from 0.4 kWh to 1.6 kWh, over the course of the season. The lowest average daily incident shortwave solar energy during the winter is 0.3 kWh on December 19. TopographyFor the purposes of this report, the geographical coordinates of Kodiak are 57.790 deg latitude, -152.407 deg longitude, and 46 ft elevation. The topography within 2 miles of Kodiak contains very significant variations in elevation, with a maximum elevation change of 1,243 feet and an average elevation above sea level of 195 feet. Within 10 miles contains very significant variations in elevation (2,510 feet). Within 50 miles contains large variations in elevation (4,341 feet). The area within 2 miles of Kodiak is covered by water (58%), shrubs (16%), trees (14%), and sparse vegetation (11%), within 10 miles by water (62%) and shrubs (26%), and within 50 miles by water (68%) and shrubs (19%). Data SourcesThis report illustrates the typical weather in Kodiak, based on a statistical analysis of historical hourly weather reports and model reconstructions from January 1, 1980 to December 31, 2016. Temperature and Dew PointThere is only a single weather station, Kodiak Benny Benson State Airport, in our network suitable to be used as a proxy for the historical temperature and dew point records of Kodiak. At a distance of 6 kilometers from Kodiak, closer than our threshold of 150 kilometers, this station is deemed sufficiently nearby to be relied upon as our primary source for temperature and dew point records. The station records are corrected for the elevation difference between the station and Kodiak according to the International Standard Atmosphere , and by the relative change present in the MERRA-2 satellite-era reanalysis between the two locations. Please note that the station records themselves may additionally have been back-filled using other nearby stations or the MERRA-2 reanalysis. Other DataAll 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. 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. 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. Please review our full terms contained on our Terms of Service page. |