Winter Weather in Östersund Sweden

Daily high temperatures are around 28°F, rarely falling below 8°F or exceeding 41°F. The lowest daily average high temperature is 25°F on January 16.

Daily low temperatures are around 18°F, rarely falling below -6°F or exceeding 34°F. The lowest daily average low temperature is 15°F on January 16.

For reference, on July 20, the hottest day of the year, temperatures in Östersund typically range from 52°F to 65°F, while on January 16, the coldest day of the year, they range from 15°F to 25°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.

Girdwood, United States (3,823 miles away) is the far-away foreign place with temperatures most similar to Östersund (view comparison).

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The winter in Östersund experiences essentially constant cloud cover, with the percentage of time that the sky is overcast or mostly cloudy remaining about 71% throughout the season. The highest chance of overcast or mostly cloudy conditions is 74% on January 25.

The clearest day of the winter is February 28, with clear, mostly clear, or partly cloudy conditions 31% of the time.

For reference, on January 25, the cloudiest day of the year, the chance of overcast or mostly cloudy conditions is 74%, while on May 31, the clearest day of the year, the chance of clear, mostly clear, or partly cloudy skies is 48%.

A wet day is one with at least 0.04 inches of liquid or liquid-equivalent precipitation. In Östersund, the chance of a wet day over the course of the winter is rapidly decreasing, starting the season at 25% and ending it at 18%.

For reference, the year's highest daily chance of a wet day is 42% on July 13, and its lowest chance is 18% on March 1.

Over the course of the winter in Östersund, the chance of a day with only rain decreases from 8% to 4%, the chance of a day with mixed snow and rain decreases from 6% to 3%, and the chance of a day with only snow remains an essentially constant 14% 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 Östersund is gradually decreasing, starting the season at 0.6 inches, when it rarely exceeds 1.2 inches or falls below 0.1 inches, and ending the season at 0.2 inches, when it rarely exceeds 0.6 inches.

The lowest average 31-day accumulation is 0.2 inches on February 11.

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 Östersund is decreasing, starting the season at 8.1 inches, when it rarely exceeds 16.9 inches or falls below 1.7 inches, and ending the season at 6.8 inches, when it rarely exceeds 13.8 inches or falls below 1.2 inches.

The highest average 31-day accumulation is 9.1 inches on January 10.

Over the course of the winter in Östersund, 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 4 hours, 46 minutes, implying an average daily increase of 3 minutes, 13 seconds, and weekly increase of 22 minutes, 30 seconds.

The shortest day of the winter is December 21, with 4 hours, 38 minutes of daylight and the longest day is February 28, with 10 hours, 10 minutes of daylight.

The latest sunrise of the winter in Östersund is 9:41 AM on December 25 and the earliest sunrise is 2 hours, 32 minutes earlier at 7:09 AM on February 28.

The earliest sunset is 2:17 PM on December 17 and the latest sunset is 3 hours, 2 minutes later at 5:19 PM on February 28.

Daylight saving time is observed in Östersund 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 2:50 AM and sets 20 hours, 26 minutes later, at 11:16 PM, while on December 21, the shortest day of the year, it rises at 9:40 AM and sets 4 hours, 38 minutes later, at 2:18 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 Östersund is essentially constant during the winter, remaining around 0% throughout.

For reference, on July 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 Östersund is essentially constant during the winter, remaining within 0.3 miles per hour of 5.6 miles per hour throughout.

For reference, on January 23, the windiest day of the year, the daily average wind speed is 5.9 miles per hour, while on August 7, the calmest day of the year, the daily average wind speed is 4.5 miles per hour.

The highest daily average wind speed during the winter is 5.9 miles per hour on January 24.

The hourly average wind direction in Östersund throughout the winter is predominantly from the west, with a peak proportion of 45% on December 16.

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 Östersund typically lasts for 5.0 months (152 days), from around May 10 to around October 8, rarely starting before April 23 or after May 26, and rarely ending before September 18 or after October 26.

The winter in Östersund 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 Östersund are rapidly decreasing during the winter, decreasing by 757°F, from 757°F to 0°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 Östersund is increasing during the winter, rising by 1.1 kWh, from 0.1 kWh to 1.3 kWh, over the course of the season.

The lowest average daily incident shortwave solar energy during the winter is 0.1 kWh on December 22.

For the purposes of this report, the geographical coordinates of Östersund are 63.179 deg latitude, 14.636 deg longitude, and 1,033 ft elevation.

The topography within 2 miles of Östersund contains significant variations in elevation, with a maximum elevation change of 554 feet and an average elevation above sea level of 1,080 feet. Within 10 miles also contains significant variations in elevation (725 feet). Within 50 miles contains significant variations in elevation (4,275 feet).

The area within 2 miles of Östersund is covered by artificial surfaces (45%), water (29%), and trees (24%), within 10 miles by trees (61%) and water (20%), and within 50 miles by trees (76%).