Winter Weather in Oyster Creek United States

Daily high temperatures are around 65°F, rarely falling below 49°F or exceeding 78°F. The lowest daily average high temperature is 63°F on January 6.

Daily low temperatures are around 51°F, rarely falling below 36°F or exceeding 67°F. The lowest daily average low temperature is 48°F on January 7.

For reference, on August 11, the hottest day of the year, temperatures in Oyster Creek typically range from 77°F to 90°F, while on January 7, the coldest day of the year, they range from 48°F to 63°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.

Luxu, China (8,497 miles away) and Zhangzhou, China (8,148 miles) are the far-away foreign places with temperatures most similar to Oyster Creek (view comparison).

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The winter in Oyster Creek experiences gradually increasing cloud cover, with the percentage of time that the sky is overcast or mostly cloudy increasing from 39% to 43%. The highest chance of overcast or mostly cloudy conditions is 47% on December 31.

The clearest day of the winter is December 1, with clear, mostly clear, or partly cloudy conditions 61% of the time.

For reference, on August 7, the cloudiest day of the year, the chance of overcast or mostly cloudy conditions is 54%, while on June 2, the clearest day of the year, the chance of clear, mostly clear, or partly cloudy skies is 69%.

A wet day is one with at least 0.04 inches of liquid or liquid-equivalent precipitation. In Oyster Creek, the chance of a wet day over the course of the winter is gradually decreasing, starting the season at 26% and ending it at 22%.

For reference, the year's highest daily chance of a wet day is 42% on September 5, and its lowest chance is 20% on March 31.

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 Oyster Creek is decreasing, starting the season at 3.8 inches, when it rarely exceeds 6.9 inches or falls below 1.1 inches, and ending the season at 2.9 inches, when it rarely exceeds 6.0 inches or falls below 0.7 inches.

Over the course of the winter in Oyster Creek, 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, 8 minutes, implying an average daily increase of 46 seconds, and weekly increase of 5 minutes, 22 seconds.

The shortest day of the winter is December 21, with 10 hours, 18 minutes of daylight and the longest day is February 28, with 11 hours, 33 minutes of daylight.

The latest sunrise of the winter in Oyster Creek is 7:16 AM on January 10 and the earliest sunrise is 29 minutes earlier at 6:47 AM on February 28.

The earliest sunset is 5:23 PM on December 1 and the latest sunset is 57 minutes later at 6:20 PM on February 28.

Daylight saving time is observed in Oyster Creek 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 6:23 AM and sets 14 hours, 0 minutes later, at 8:23 PM, while on December 21, the shortest day of the year, it rises at 7:11 AM and sets 10 hours, 18 minutes later, at 5:28 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 Oyster Creek is decreasing during the winter, falling from 23% to 15% over the course of the season.

The lowest chance of a muggy day during the winter is 8% on January 29.

For reference, on July 17, the muggiest day of the year, there are muggy conditions 100% of the time, while on January 29, the least muggy day of the year, there are muggy conditions 8% 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 Oyster Creek is essentially constant during the winter, remaining within 0.2 miles per hour of 11.8 miles per hour throughout.

For reference, on December 24, the windiest day of the year, the daily average wind speed is 12.0 miles per hour, while on August 14, the calmest day of the year, the daily average wind speed is 8.3 miles per hour.

The highest daily average wind speed during the winter is 12.0 miles per hour on December 25.

The wind direction in Oyster Creek during the winter is predominantly out of the south from December 1 to December 3 and from February 5 to February 28 and the north from December 3 to February 5.

Oyster Creek 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 Oyster Creek is decreasing during the winter, falling by 6°F, from 68°F to 62°F, over the course of the season.

The lowest average surface water temperature during the winter is 61°F on February 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).

While it does not do so every year, freezing temperatures are seen in Oyster Creek over some winters. The day least likely to be in the growing season is January 16, with a 59% chance.

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 Oyster Creek are very rapidly decreasing during the winter, decreasing by 6,701°F, from 7,164°F to 463°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 Oyster Creek is increasing during the winter, rising by 1.4 kWh, from 3.3 kWh to 4.7 kWh, over the course of the season.

The lowest average daily incident shortwave solar energy during the winter is 3.0 kWh on December 23.

For the purposes of this report, the geographical coordinates of Oyster Creek are 29.003 deg latitude, -95.332 deg longitude, and 3 ft elevation.

The topography within 2 miles of Oyster Creek is essentially flat, with a maximum elevation change of 3 feet and an average elevation above sea level of 3 feet. Within 10 miles is also essentially flat (30 feet). Within 50 miles is essentially flat (141 feet).

The area within 2 miles of Oyster Creek is covered by herbaceous vegetation (64%), artificial surfaces (18%), and cropland (15%), within 10 miles by herbaceous vegetation (48%) and water (25%), and within 50 miles by water (53%) and cropland (26%).