Winter Weather in Ferndale United States

Daily high temperatures are around 55°F, rarely falling below 49°F or exceeding 63°F. The lowest daily average high temperature is 55°F on December 26.

Daily low temperatures are around 43°F, rarely falling below 33°F or exceeding 53°F. The lowest daily average low temperature is 42°F on December 22.

For reference, on September 10, the hottest day of the year, temperatures in Ferndale typically range from 49°F to 62°F, while on December 22, the coldest day of the year, they range from 42°F to 55°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.

Ancud, Chile (6,519 miles away) and Cygnet, Australia (7,995 miles) are the far-away foreign places with temperatures most similar to Ferndale (view comparison).

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The winter in Ferndale experiences essentially constant cloud cover, with the percentage of time that the sky is overcast or mostly cloudy remaining about 65% throughout the season. The highest chance of overcast or mostly cloudy conditions is 67% on January 9.

The clearest day of the winter is December 7, with clear, mostly clear, or partly cloudy conditions 37% of the time.

For reference, on January 9, the cloudiest day of the year, the chance of overcast or mostly cloudy conditions is 67%, while on August 2, the clearest day of the year, the chance of clear, mostly clear, or partly cloudy skies is 89%.

A wet day is one with at least 0.04 inches of liquid or liquid-equivalent precipitation. In Ferndale, the chance of a wet day over the course of the winter is essentially constant, remaining around 43% throughout.

For reference, the year's highest daily chance of a wet day is 46% on December 13, and its lowest chance is 1% on August 3.

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 Ferndale is rapidly decreasing, starting the season at 8.6 inches, when it rarely exceeds 16.0 inches or falls below 2.4 inches, and ending the season at 7.3 inches, when it rarely exceeds 12.9 inches or falls below 2.6 inches.

The highest average 31-day accumulation is 9.2 inches on December 13.

Over the course of the winter in Ferndale, 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, 28 seconds.

The shortest day of the winter is December 20, with 9 hours, 16 minutes of daylight and the longest day is February 28, with 11 hours, 16 minutes of daylight.

The latest sunrise of the winter in Ferndale is 7:40 AM on January 4 and the earliest sunrise is 49 minutes earlier at 6:51 AM on February 28.

The earliest sunset is 4:49 PM on December 8 and the latest sunset is 1 hour, 18 minutes later at 6:07 PM on February 28.

Daylight saving time is observed in Ferndale 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 5:46 AM and sets 15 hours, 5 minutes later, at 8:51 PM, while on December 21, the shortest day of the year, it rises at 7:37 AM and sets 9 hours, 16 minutes later, at 4:53 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 Ferndale is essentially constant during the winter, remaining around 0% throughout.

For reference, on May 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 Ferndale is essentially constant during the winter, remaining within 0.3 miles per hour of 10.9 miles per hour throughout.

For reference, on June 22, the windiest day of the year, the daily average wind speed is 11.9 miles per hour, while on October 5, the calmest day of the year, the daily average wind speed is 9.1 miles per hour.

The highest daily average wind speed during the winter is 11.2 miles per hour on December 12.

The hourly average wind direction in Ferndale throughout the winter is predominantly from the south, with a peak proportion of 42% on January 10.

Ferndale 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 Ferndale is gradually decreasing during the winter, falling by 2°F, from 54°F to 52°F, over the course of the season.

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 Ferndale typically lasts for 11 months (333 days), from around January 25 to around December 23, rarely starting after March 4, or ending before November 20.

The smallest chance that a given day will be within the growing season in Ferndale during the winter is 42% on January 7.

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 Ferndale are very rapidly decreasing during the winter, decreasing by 1,100°F, from 1,216°F to 116°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 Ferndale is increasing during the winter, rising by 1.4 kWh, from 1.8 kWh to 3.1 kWh, over the course of the season.

The lowest average daily incident shortwave solar energy during the winter is 1.6 kWh on December 25.

For the purposes of this report, the geographical coordinates of Ferndale are 40.576 deg latitude, -124.264 deg longitude, and 52 ft elevation.

The topography within 2 miles of Ferndale contains very significant variations in elevation, with a maximum elevation change of 988 feet and an average elevation above sea level of 192 feet. Within 10 miles contains very significant variations in elevation (2,602 feet). Within 50 miles contains large variations in elevation (5,866 feet).

The area within 2 miles of Ferndale is covered by cropland (49%) and trees (41%), within 10 miles by trees (34%) and water (26%), and within 50 miles by water (54%) and trees (30%).