Winter Weather in Fosston Minnesota, United StatesDaily high temperatures are around 22°F, rarely falling below -4°F or exceeding 42°F. The lowest daily average high temperature is 17°F on January 12. Daily low temperatures are around 5°F, rarely falling below -24°F or exceeding 29°F. The lowest daily average low temperature is -2°F on January 15. For reference, on July 23, the hottest day of the year, temperatures in Fosston typically range from 58°F to 79°F, while on January 15, the coldest day of the year, they range from -2°F to 17°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. Rayevskiy, Russia (5,214 miles away) and Ussuriysk, Russia (5,495 miles) are the far-away foreign places with temperatures most similar to Fosston (view comparison). CloudsThe winter in Fosston experiences essentially constant cloud cover, with the percentage of time that the sky is overcast or mostly cloudy remaining about 64% throughout the season. The highest chance of overcast or mostly cloudy conditions is 68% on February 4. The clearest day of the winter is December 1, with clear, mostly clear, or partly cloudy conditions 39% of the time. For reference, on February 3, the cloudiest day of the year, the chance of overcast or mostly cloudy conditions is 68%, while on July 30, the clearest day of the year, the chance of clear, mostly clear, or partly cloudy skies is 73%. PrecipitationA wet day is one with at least 0.04 inches of liquid or liquid-equivalent precipitation. In Fosston, the chance of a wet day over the course of the winter is essentially constant, remaining around 8% throughout. For reference, the year's highest daily chance of a wet day is 39% on June 27, and its lowest chance is 6% on February 9. Over the course of the winter in Fosston, the chance of a day with only rain remains an essentially constant 1% 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 6% throughout. RainfallTo 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 Fosston is essentially constant, remaining about 0.1 inches throughout, and rarely exceeding 0.5 inches or falling below -0.0 inches. The lowest average 31-day accumulation is 0.0 inches on January 9. SnowfallAs 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 Fosston is gradually decreasing, starting the season at 3.1 inches, when it rarely exceeds 8.7 inches, and ending the season at 2.8 inches, when it rarely exceeds 6.8 inches or falls below 0.1 inches. The highest average 31-day accumulation is 3.3 inches on January 3. SunOver the course of the winter in Fosston, 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, 20 minutes, implying an average daily increase of 1 minute, 34 seconds, and weekly increase of 11 minutes, 0 seconds. The shortest day of the winter is December 20, with 8 hours, 26 minutes of daylight and the longest day is February 28, with 11 hours, 2 minutes of daylight. The latest sunrise of the winter in Fosston is 8:11 AM on December 31 and the earliest sunrise is 1 hour, 6 minutes earlier at 7:04 AM on February 28. The earliest sunset is 4:31 PM on December 10 and the latest sunset is 1 hour, 36 minutes later at 6:06 PM on February 28. Daylight saving time is observed in Fosston 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 5:25 AM and sets 15 hours, 59 minutes later, at 9:24 PM, while on December 21, the shortest day of the year, it rises at 8:08 AM and sets 8 hours, 26 minutes later, at 4:34 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. MoonThe 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. HumidityWe 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 Fosston is essentially constant during the winter, remaining around 0% throughout. For reference, on July 17, the muggiest day of the year, there are muggy conditions 17% of the time, while on November 10, the least muggy day of the year, there are muggy conditions 0% of the time. WindThis 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 Fosston is gradually increasing during the winter, increasing from 11.7 miles per hour to 12.5 miles per hour over the course of the season. For reference, on March 20, the windiest day of the year, the daily average wind speed is 12.7 miles per hour, while on July 26, the calmest day of the year, the daily average wind speed is 9.5 miles per hour. The lowest daily average wind speed during the winter is 11.7 miles per hour on December 9. The wind direction in Fosston during the winter is predominantly out of the south from December 1 to December 3, the west from December 3 to February 3, and the north from February 3 to February 28. Growing SeasonDefinitions 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 Fosston typically lasts for 4.5 months (139 days), from around May 11 to around September 27, rarely starting before April 19 or after May 29, and rarely ending before September 10 or after October 15. The winter in Fosston 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 Fosston are very rapidly decreasing during the winter, decreasing by 2,133°F, from 2,133°F to 0°F, over the course of the season. Solar EnergyThis 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 Fosston is rapidly increasing during the winter, rising by 1.7 kWh, from 1.3 kWh to 3.0 kWh, over the course of the season. The lowest average daily incident shortwave solar energy during the winter is 1.2 kWh on December 19. TopographyFor the purposes of this report, the geographical coordinates of Fosston are 47.576 deg latitude, -95.751 deg longitude, and 1,289 ft elevation. The topography within 2 miles of Fosston is essentially flat, with a maximum elevation change of 72 feet and an average elevation above sea level of 1,284 feet. Within 10 miles is essentially flat (384 feet). Within 50 miles contains only modest variations in elevation (1,184 feet). The area within 2 miles of Fosston is covered by cropland (93%), within 10 miles by cropland (82%) and trees (15%), and within 50 miles by cropland (59%) and trees (29%). Data SourcesThis report illustrates the typical weather in Fosston, based on a statistical analysis of historical hourly weather reports and model reconstructions from January 1, 1980 to December 31, 2016. Temperature and Dew PointThere are 4 weather stations near enough to contribute to our estimation of the temperature and dew point in Fosston. For each station, the records are corrected for the elevation difference between that station and Fosston according to the International Standard Atmosphere , and by the relative change present in the MERRA-2 satellite-era reanalysis between the two locations. The estimated value at Fosston is computed as the weighted average of the individual contributions from each station, with weights proportional to the inverse of the distance between Fosston and a given station. The stations contributing to this reconstruction are:
To get a sense of how much these sources agree with each other, you can view a comparison of Fosston and the stations that contribute to our estimates of its temperature history and climate. Please note that each source's contribution is adjusted for elevation and the relative change present in the MERRA-2 data. Other DataAll data relating to the Sun's position (e.g., sunrise and sunset) are computed using astronomical formulas from the book, Astronomical Algorithms 2nd Edition , by Jean Meeus. All other weather data, including cloud cover, precipitation, wind speed and direction, and solar flux, come from NASA's MERRA-2 Modern-Era Retrospective Analysis . This reanalysis combines a variety of wide-area measurements in a state-of-the-art global meteorological model to reconstruct the hourly history of weather throughout the world on a 50-kilometer grid. Land Use data comes from the Global Land Cover SHARE database , published by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. Elevation data comes from the Shuttle Radar Topography Mission (SRTM) , published by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Names, locations, and time zones of places and some airports come from the GeoNames Geographical Database . Time zones for airports and weather stations are provided by AskGeo.com . Maps are © OpenStreetMap contributors. DisclaimerThe information on this site is provided as is, without any assurances as to its accuracy or suitability for any purpose. Weather data is prone to errors, outages, and other defects. We assume no responsibility for any decisions made on the basis of the content presented on this site. We draw particular cautious attention to our reliance on the MERRA-2 model-based reconstructions for a number of important data series. While having the tremendous advantages of temporal and spatial completeness, these reconstructions: (1) are based on computer models that may have model-based errors, (2) are coarsely sampled on a 50 km grid and are therefore unable to reconstruct the local variations of many microclimates, and (3) have particular difficulty with the weather in some coastal areas, especially small islands. We further caution that our travel scores are only as good as the data that underpin them, that weather conditions at any given location and time are unpredictable and variable, and that the definition of the scores reflects a particular set of preferences that may not agree with those of any particular reader. Please review our full terms contained on our Terms of Service page. |