Winter Weather in Roswell United States

Daily high temperatures increase by 7°F, from 60°F to 67°F, rarely falling below 39°F or exceeding 78°F. The lowest daily average high temperature is 55°F on December 30.

Daily low temperatures increase by 4°F, from 32°F to 37°F, rarely falling below 18°F or exceeding 47°F. The lowest daily average low temperature is 28°F on December 31.

For reference, on June 25, the hottest day of the year, temperatures in Roswell typically range from 67°F to 95°F, while on December 31, the coldest day of the year, they range from 28°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.

Kerman, Iran (7,885 miles away) and Quetta, Pakistan (8,018 miles) are the far-away foreign places with temperatures most similar to Roswell (view comparison).

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The winter in Roswell experiences gradually increasing cloud cover, with the percentage of time that the sky is overcast or mostly cloudy increasing from 31% to 36%. The highest chance of overcast or mostly cloudy conditions is 37% on February 23.

The clearest day of the winter is December 2, with clear, mostly clear, or partly cloudy conditions 69% of the time.

For reference, on February 23, the cloudiest day of the year, the chance of overcast or mostly cloudy conditions is 37%, while on June 9, the clearest day of the year, the chance of clear, mostly clear, or partly cloudy skies is 79%.

A wet day is one with at least 0.04 inches of liquid or liquid-equivalent precipitation. In Roswell, the chance of a wet day over the course of the winter is essentially constant, remaining around 5% throughout.

For reference, the year's highest daily chance of a wet day is 29% on August 10, and its lowest chance is 4% on January 11.

Over the course of the winter in Roswell, the chance of a day with only rain remains an essentially constant 3% throughout, the chance of a day with mixed snow and rain remains an essentially constant 1% throughout, and the chance of a day with only snow remains an essentially constant 1% 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 Roswell is essentially constant, remaining about 0.2 inches throughout, and rarely exceeding 0.8 inches.

The lowest average 31-day accumulation is 0.1 inches on January 15.

Over the course of the winter in Roswell, 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, 22 minutes, implying an average daily increase of 55 seconds, and weekly increase of 6 minutes, 25 seconds.

The shortest day of the winter is December 21, with 9 hours, 56 minutes of daylight and the longest day is February 28, with 11 hours, 27 minutes of daylight.

The latest sunrise of the winter in Roswell is 7:02 AM on January 7 and the earliest sunrise is 36 minutes earlier at 6:27 AM on February 28.

The earliest sunset is 4:50 PM on December 3 and the latest sunset is 1 hour, 4 minutes later at 5:54 PM on February 28.

Daylight saving time is observed in Roswell 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 5:48 AM and sets 14 hours, 22 minutes later, at 8:10 PM, while on December 21, the shortest day of the year, it rises at 6:58 AM and sets 9 hours, 56 minutes later, at 4:54 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 Roswell is essentially constant during the winter, remaining around 0% throughout.

For reference, on August 11, the muggiest day of the year, there are muggy conditions 6% of the time, while on October 29, 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 Roswell is increasing during the winter, increasing from 9.1 miles per hour to 10.5 miles per hour over the course of the season.

For reference, on April 10, the windiest day of the year, the daily average wind speed is 11.5 miles per hour, while on August 14, the calmest day of the year, the daily average wind speed is 7.3 miles per hour.

The hourly average wind direction in Roswell throughout the winter is predominantly from the west, with a peak proportion of 49% on December 5.

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 Roswell typically lasts for 7.3 months (224 days), from around March 26 to around November 6, rarely starting before March 2 or after April 18, and rarely ending before October 20 or after November 23.

The winter in Roswell is very likely fully outside of the growing season, with the chance that a given day is in the growing season reaching a low of 0% on January 17.

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 Roswell are very rapidly decreasing during the winter, decreasing by 5,010°F, from 5,173°F to 163°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 Roswell is rapidly increasing during the winter, rising by 1.7 kWh, from 3.5 kWh to 5.2 kWh, over the course of the season.

The lowest average daily incident shortwave solar energy during the winter is 3.3 kWh on December 22.

For the purposes of this report, the geographical coordinates of Roswell are 33.394 deg latitude, -104.525 deg longitude, and 3,573 ft elevation.

The topography within 2 miles of Roswell is essentially flat, with a maximum elevation change of 89 feet and an average elevation above sea level of 3,587 feet. Within 10 miles is essentially flat (715 feet). Within 50 miles contains significant variations in elevation (6,900 feet).

The area within 2 miles of Roswell is covered by shrubs (48%), artificial surfaces (26%), and cropland (20%), within 10 miles by shrubs (74%) and cropland (18%), and within 50 miles by shrubs (66%) and grassland (31%).