Winter Weather in Munich Bavaria, Germany

Daily high temperatures are around 39°F, rarely falling below 24°F or exceeding 54°F. The lowest daily average high temperature is 36°F on January 15.

Daily low temperatures are around 27°F, rarely falling below 11°F or exceeding 39°F. The lowest daily average low temperature is 25°F on January 23.

For reference, on August 3, the hottest day of the year, temperatures in Munich typically range from 56°F to 75°F, while on January 23, the coldest day of the year, they range from 25°F to 37°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.

Hope, British Columbia, Canada (5,146 miles away) and Banner Elk, North Carolina, United States (4,564 miles) are the far-away foreign places with temperatures most similar to Munich (view comparison).

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The winter in Munich experiences gradually decreasing cloud cover, with the percentage of time that the sky is overcast or mostly cloudy decreasing from 65% to 57%. The highest chance of overcast or mostly cloudy conditions is 65% on December 6. The lowest chance of overcast or mostly cloudy conditions is 57% on February 27.

The clearest day of the winter is February 27, with clear, mostly clear, or partly cloudy conditions 43% of the time.

For reference, on December 5, the cloudiest day of the year, the chance of overcast or mostly cloudy conditions is 65%, while on July 29, the clearest day of the year, the chance of clear, mostly clear, or partly cloudy skies is 59%.

A wet day is one with at least 0.04 inches of liquid or liquid-equivalent precipitation. In Munich, the chance of a wet day over the course of the winter is gradually decreasing, starting the season at 27% and ending it at 24%.

For reference, the year's highest daily chance of a wet day is 49% on June 12, and its lowest chance is 24% on February 28.

Over the course of the winter in Munich, the chance of a day with only rain decreases from 21% to 18%, the chance of a day with mixed snow and rain remains an essentially constant 4% throughout, and the chance of a day with only snow remains an essentially constant 4% 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 Munich is gradually decreasing, starting the season at 1.6 inches, when it rarely exceeds 2.9 inches or falls below 0.6 inches, and ending the season at 1.3 inches, when it rarely exceeds 2.8 inches or falls below 0.2 inches.

The lowest average 31-day accumulation is 1.2 inches on February 15.

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 Munich is essentially constant, remaining about 2.6 inches throughout, and rarely exceeding 7.9 inches or falling to 0.0 inches.

The highest average 31-day accumulation is 2.9 inches on February 8.

Over the course of the winter in Munich, 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 2 hours, 21 minutes, implying an average daily increase of 1 minute, 35 seconds, and weekly increase of 11 minutes, 7 seconds.

The shortest day of the winter is December 21, with 8 hours, 21 minutes of daylight and the longest day is February 28, with 11 hours, 0 minutes of daylight.

The latest sunrise of the winter in Munich is 8:04 AM on January 1 and the earliest sunrise is 1 hour, 8 minutes earlier at 6:56 AM on February 28.

The earliest sunset is 4:19 PM on December 10 and the latest sunset is 1 hour, 37 minutes later at 5:56 PM on February 28.

Daylight saving time is observed in Munich 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 5:13 AM and sets 16 hours, 4 minutes later, at 9:17 PM, while on December 21, the shortest day of the year, it rises at 8:01 AM and sets 8 hours, 21 minutes later, at 4:22 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 Munich is essentially constant during the winter, remaining around 0% throughout.

For reference, on June 30, 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 Munich is gradually increasing during the winter, increasing from 6.8 miles per hour to 7.4 miles per hour over the course of the season.

For reference, on February 2, the windiest day of the year, the daily average wind speed is 7.8 miles per hour, while on August 9, the calmest day of the year, the daily average wind speed is 5.2 miles per hour.

The highest daily average wind speed during the winter is 7.8 miles per hour on February 2.

The hourly average wind direction in Munich throughout the winter is predominantly from the west, with a peak proportion of 54% on December 24.

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 Munich typically lasts for 6.0 months (184 days), from around April 19 to around October 21, rarely starting before April 2 or after May 7, and rarely ending before October 3 or after November 8.

The winter in Munich 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 Munich are very rapidly decreasing during the winter, decreasing by 1,903°F, from 1,910°F to 6°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 Munich is rapidly increasing during the winter, rising by 1.5 kWh, from 1.2 kWh to 2.7 kWh, over the course of the season.

The lowest average daily incident shortwave solar energy during the winter is 1.0 kWh on December 23.

For the purposes of this report, the geographical coordinates of Munich are 48.137 deg latitude, 11.575 deg longitude, and 1,719 ft elevation.

The topography within 2 miles of Munich contains only modest variations in elevation, with a maximum elevation change of 141 feet and an average elevation above sea level of 1,718 feet. Within 10 miles contains only modest variations in elevation (679 feet). Within 50 miles contains significant variations in elevation (7,110 feet).

The area within 2 miles of Munich is covered by artificial surfaces (100%), within 10 miles by artificial surfaces (44%) and cropland (29%), and within 50 miles by cropland (39%) and trees (32%).