Winter Weather in Orkney United Kingdom

Daily high temperatures are around 44°F, rarely falling below 37°F or exceeding 51°F. The lowest daily average high temperature is 43°F on January 28.

Daily low temperatures are around 38°F, rarely falling below 31°F or exceeding 45°F. The lowest daily average low temperature is 36°F on February 17.

For reference, on August 5, the hottest day of the year, temperatures in Orkney typically range from 52°F to 61°F, while on February 17, the coldest day of the year, they range from 36°F to 43°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.

Metlakatla, United States (4,061 miles away) is the far-away foreign place with temperatures most similar to Orkney (view comparison).

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The winter in Orkney experiences essentially constant cloud cover, with the percentage of time that the sky is overcast or mostly cloudy remaining about 69% throughout the season. The highest chance of overcast or mostly cloudy conditions is 70% on February 4.

The clearest day of the winter is December 13, with clear, mostly clear, or partly cloudy conditions 33% of the time.

For reference, on February 3, the cloudiest day of the year, the chance of overcast or mostly cloudy conditions is 70%, while on May 29, the clearest day of the year, the chance of clear, mostly clear, or partly cloudy skies is 46%.

A wet day is one with at least 0.04 inches of liquid or liquid-equivalent precipitation. In Orkney, the chance of a wet day over the course of the winter is gradually decreasing, starting the season at 45% and ending it at 41%.

For reference, the year's highest daily chance of a wet day is 49% on January 4, and its lowest chance is 24% on May 17.

Over the course of the winter in Orkney, the chance of a day with only rain decreases from 44% to 40%, 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 0% 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 Orkney is decreasing, starting the season at 3.0 inches, when it rarely exceeds 4.5 inches or falls below 1.6 inches, and ending the season at 2.5 inches, when it rarely exceeds 4.4 inches or falls below 1.2 inches.

Over the course of the winter in Orkney, 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, 46 minutes, implying an average daily increase of 2 minutes, 32 seconds, and weekly increase of 17 minutes, 47 seconds.

The shortest day of the winter is December 21, with 6 hours, 11 minutes of daylight and the longest day is February 28, with 10 hours, 29 minutes of daylight.

The latest sunrise of the winter in Orkney is 9:06 AM on December 27 and the earliest sunrise is 1 hour, 56 minutes earlier at 7:10 AM on February 28.

The earliest sunset is 3:14 PM on December 15 and the latest sunset is 2 hours, 25 minutes later at 5:39 PM on February 28.

Daylight saving time is observed in Orkney 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 3:58 AM and sets 18 hours, 30 minutes later, at 10:28 PM, while on December 21, the shortest day of the year, it rises at 9:04 AM and sets 6 hours, 11 minutes later, at 3:15 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 Orkney is essentially constant during the winter, remaining around 0% throughout.

For reference, on July 13, 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 Orkney is essentially constant during the winter, remaining within 0.9 miles per hour of 21.6 miles per hour throughout.

For reference, on January 24, the windiest day of the year, the daily average wind speed is 22.5 miles per hour, while on July 12, the calmest day of the year, the daily average wind speed is 12.9 miles per hour.

The highest daily average wind speed during the winter is 22.5 miles per hour on January 24.

The wind direction in Orkney during the winter is predominantly out of the west from December 1 to January 1, from January 13 to February 21, and from February 27 to February 28 and the south from January 1 to January 13 and from February 21 to February 27.

Orkney 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 Orkney is decreasing during the winter, falling by 5°F, from 49°F to 45°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 Orkney typically lasts for 8.0 months (245 days), from around April 5 to around December 7, rarely starting before February 28 or after May 4, and rarely ending before November 6 or after January 2.

The winter in Orkney 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 3% on January 24.

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 Orkney are rapidly decreasing during the winter, decreasing by 627°F, from 628°F to 1°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 Orkney is increasing during the winter, rising by 1.0 kWh, from 0.3 kWh to 1.3 kWh, over the course of the season.

The lowest average daily incident shortwave solar energy during the winter is 0.2 kWh on December 21.

For the purposes of this report, the geographical coordinates of Orkney are 58.985 deg latitude, -2.960 deg longitude, and 7 ft elevation.

The topography within 2 miles of Orkney contains only modest variations in elevation, with a maximum elevation change of 420 feet and an average elevation above sea level of 88 feet. Within 10 miles contains only modest variations in elevation (869 feet). Within 50 miles also contains very significant variations in elevation (1,572 feet).

The area within 2 miles of Orkney is covered by grassland (61%), water (25%), and artificial surfaces (11%), within 10 miles by water (54%) and grassland (29%), and within 50 miles by water (88%).