Winter Weather in Laramie Wyoming, United States

Daily high temperatures are around 36°F, rarely falling below 17°F or exceeding 52°F. The lowest daily average high temperature is 32°F on December 30.

Daily low temperatures are around 16°F, rarely falling below -4°F or exceeding 32°F. The lowest daily average low temperature is 13°F on December 29.

For reference, on July 18, the hottest day of the year, temperatures in Laramie typically range from 51°F to 79°F, while on December 29, the coldest day of the year, they range from 13°F to 32°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.

Gurgurnica, Macedonia (5,804 miles away) and Evren, Turkey (6,391 miles) are the far-away foreign places with temperatures most similar to Laramie (view comparison).

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The winter in Laramie experiences gradually increasing cloud cover, with the percentage of time that the sky is overcast or mostly cloudy increasing from 43% to 48%.

The clearest day of the winter is January 8, with clear, mostly clear, or partly cloudy conditions 60% of the time.

For reference, on March 27, the cloudiest day of the year, the chance of overcast or mostly cloudy conditions is 50%, while on July 3, the clearest day of the year, the chance of clear, mostly clear, or partly cloudy skies is 74%.

A wet day is one with at least 0.04 inches of liquid or liquid-equivalent precipitation. In Laramie, the chance of a wet day over the course of the winter is essentially constant, remaining around 8% throughout.

For reference, the year's highest daily chance of a wet day is 29% on May 22, and its lowest chance is 6% on January 28.

Over the course of the winter in Laramie, the chance of a day with only rain remains an essentially constant 1% throughout, the chance of a day with mixed snow and rain remains an essentially constant 2% throughout, and the chance of a day with only snow remains an essentially constant 6% throughout.

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 Laramie is essentially constant, remaining about 0.1 inches throughout, and rarely exceeding 0.5 inches.

The lowest average 31-day accumulation is 0.0 inches on December 19.

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 Laramie is essentially constant, remaining about 2.7 inches throughout, and rarely exceeding 7.6 inches or falling below 0.2 inches.

The lowest average 31-day accumulation is 2.2 inches on January 15.

Over the course of the winter in Laramie, 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, 50 minutes, implying an average daily increase of 1 minute, 14 seconds, and weekly increase of 8 minutes, 41 seconds.

The shortest day of the winter is December 21, with 9 hours, 11 minutes of daylight and the longest day is February 28, with 11 hours, 15 minutes of daylight.

The latest sunrise of the winter in Laramie is 7:28 AM on January 3 and the earliest sunrise is 51 minutes earlier at 6:37 AM on February 28.

The earliest sunset is 4:32 PM on December 7 and the latest sunset is 1 hour, 20 minutes later at 5:52 PM on February 28.

Daylight saving time is observed in Laramie 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 5:29 AM and sets 15 hours, 10 minutes later, at 8:39 PM, while on December 21, the shortest day of the year, it rises at 7:25 AM and sets 9 hours, 11 minutes later, at 4:36 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 Laramie is essentially constant during the winter, remaining around 0% throughout.

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 Laramie is gradually decreasing during the winter, decreasing from 14.8 miles per hour to 14.2 miles per hour over the course of the season.

For reference, on January 11, the windiest day of the year, the daily average wind speed is 16.2 miles per hour, while on July 29, the calmest day of the year, the daily average wind speed is 7.8 miles per hour.

The highest daily average wind speed during the winter is 16.2 miles per hour on January 11.

The hourly average wind direction in Laramie throughout the winter is predominantly from the west, with a peak proportion of 87% on January 11.

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 Laramie typically lasts for 3.8 months (116 days), from around May 26 to around September 18, rarely starting before May 8 or after June 13, and rarely ending before September 3 or after October 4.

The winter in Laramie 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 Laramie are very rapidly decreasing during the winter, decreasing by 1,662°F, from 1,664°F to 2°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 Laramie is rapidly increasing during the winter, rising by 1.8 kWh, from 2.4 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 20.

For the purposes of this report, the geographical coordinates of Laramie are 41.311 deg latitude, -105.591 deg longitude, and 7,165 ft elevation.

The topography within 2 miles of Laramie contains only modest variations in elevation, with a maximum elevation change of 174 feet and an average elevation above sea level of 7,175 feet. Within 10 miles contains only modest variations in elevation (1,870 feet). Within 50 miles contains very significant variations in elevation (7,664 feet).

The area within 2 miles of Laramie is covered by shrubs (66%) and grassland (21%), within 10 miles by grassland (53%) and shrubs (41%), and within 50 miles by grassland (49%) and shrubs (27%).