Winter Weather in Wasilla United States

Daily high temperatures increase by 7°F, from 26°F to 32°F, rarely falling below 4°F or exceeding 43°F. The lowest daily average high temperature is 24°F on December 28.

Daily low temperatures are around 14°F, rarely falling below -13°F or exceeding 32°F. The lowest daily average low temperature is 11°F on January 17.

For reference, on July 19, the hottest day of the year, temperatures in Wasilla typically range from 51°F to 67°F, while on January 16, the coldest day of the year, they range from 11°F to 24°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.

Raufoss, Norway (3,925 miles away) and Skellefteå, Sweden (3,698 miles) are the far-away foreign places with temperatures most similar to Wasilla (view comparison).

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The winter in Wasilla experiences gradually decreasing cloud cover, with the percentage of time that the sky is overcast or mostly cloudy decreasing from 58% to 53%. The highest chance of overcast or mostly cloudy conditions is 61% on December 17.

The clearest day of the winter is February 27, with clear, mostly clear, or partly cloudy conditions 47% of the time.

For reference, on July 9, the cloudiest day of the year, the chance of overcast or mostly cloudy conditions is 65%, while on March 15, the clearest day of the year, the chance of clear, mostly clear, or partly cloudy skies is 49%.

A wet day is one with at least 0.04 inches of liquid or liquid-equivalent precipitation. In Wasilla, the chance of a wet day over the course of the winter is rapidly decreasing, starting the season at 24% and ending it at 17%.

For reference, the year's highest daily chance of a wet day is 43% on September 14, and its lowest chance is 14% on April 1.

Over the course of the winter in Wasilla, the chance of a day with only rain remains an essentially constant 7% throughout, 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 decreases from 12% 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 Wasilla is essentially constant, remaining about 0.6 inches throughout, and rarely exceeding 1.9 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 in Wasilla is rapidly decreasing, starting the season at 7.8 inches, when it rarely exceeds 16.3 inches or falls below 1.2 inches, and ending the season at 4.8 inches, when it rarely exceeds 12.5 inches or falls below 0.7 inches.

The highest average 31-day accumulation is 8.3 inches on December 21.

Over the course of the winter in Wasilla, 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 4 hours, 24 minutes, implying an average daily increase of 2 minutes, 58 seconds, and weekly increase of 20 minutes, 45 seconds.

The shortest day of the winter is December 20, with 5 hours, 19 minutes of daylight and the longest day is February 28, with 10 hours, 20 minutes of daylight.

The latest sunrise of the winter in Wasilla is 10:17 AM on December 25 and the earliest sunrise is 2 hours, 17 minutes earlier at 8:00 AM on February 28.

The earliest sunset is 3:34 PM on December 16 and the latest sunset is 2 hours, 47 minutes later at 6:20 PM on February 28.

Daylight saving time is observed in Wasilla 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 4:13 AM and sets 19 hours, 33 minutes later, at 11:45 PM, while on December 21, the shortest day of the year, it rises at 10:16 AM and sets 5 hours, 19 minutes later, at 3:35 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 Wasilla is essentially constant during the winter, remaining around 0% throughout.

For reference, on June 14, 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 in Wasilla is essentially constant during the winter, remaining within 0.4 miles per hour of 6.8 miles per hour throughout.

For reference, on January 8, the windiest day of the year, the daily average wind speed is 7.3 miles per hour, while on June 26, the calmest day of the year, the daily average wind speed is 3.7 miles per hour.

The highest daily average wind speed during the winter is 7.3 miles per hour on January 8.

The hourly average wind direction in Wasilla throughout the winter is predominantly from the east, with a peak proportion of 76% on January 21.

Wasilla 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 Wasilla is essentially constant during the winter, remaining within 1°F of 33°F throughout.

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 Wasilla typically lasts for 4.6 months (142 days), from around May 4 to around September 23, rarely starting before April 15 or after May 23, and rarely ending before September 4 or after October 13.

The winter in Wasilla 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 Wasilla are rapidly decreasing during the winter, decreasing by 837°F, from 837°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 in Wasilla is increasing during the winter, rising by 1.4 kWh, from 0.2 kWh to 1.6 kWh, over the course of the season.

The lowest average daily incident shortwave solar energy during the winter is 0.1 kWh on December 20.

For the purposes of this report, the geographical coordinates of Wasilla are 61.581 deg latitude, -149.439 deg longitude, and 344 ft elevation.

The topography within 2 miles of Wasilla contains only modest variations in elevation, with a maximum elevation change of 348 feet and an average elevation above sea level of 361 feet. Within 10 miles contains only modest variations in elevation (4,498 feet). Within 50 miles also contains extreme variations in elevation (10,194 feet).

The area within 2 miles of Wasilla is covered by trees (40%), artificial surfaces (32%), and sparse vegetation (23%), within 10 miles by trees (44%) and sparse vegetation (15%), and within 50 miles by trees (25%) and shrubs (20%).