Winter Weather in Kansas City Missouri, United States

Daily high temperatures are around 46°F, rarely falling below 23°F or exceeding 69°F. The lowest daily average high temperature is 40°F on January 5.

Daily low temperatures are around 28°F, rarely falling below 7°F or exceeding 46°F. The lowest daily average low temperature is 24°F on January 7.

For reference, on July 21, the hottest day of the year, temperatures in Kansas City typically range from 73°F to 90°F, while on January 6, the coldest day of the year, they range from 24°F to 40°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.

Lintong, China (7,145 miles away); Zhu Cheng City, China (6,822 miles); and Gwangju, South Korea (6,671 miles) are the far-away foreign places with temperatures most similar to Kansas City (view comparison).

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The winter in Kansas City experiences essentially constant cloud cover, with the percentage of time that the sky is overcast or mostly cloudy remaining about 49% throughout the season. The highest chance of overcast or mostly cloudy conditions is 52% on February 13.

The clearest day of the winter is December 1, with clear, mostly clear, or partly cloudy conditions 53% of the time.

For reference, on February 12, the cloudiest day of the year, the chance of overcast or mostly cloudy conditions is 52%, while on August 26, the clearest day of the year, the chance of clear, mostly clear, or partly cloudy skies is 72%.

A wet day is one with at least 0.04 inches of liquid or liquid-equivalent precipitation. In Kansas City, the chance of a wet day over the course of the winter is essentially constant, remaining around 13% throughout.

For reference, the year's highest daily chance of a wet day is 45% on June 8, and its lowest chance is 10% on January 12.

Over the course of the winter in Kansas City, the chance of a day with only rain remains an essentially constant 8% throughout, the chance of a day with mixed snow and rain remains an essentially constant 2% throughout, and the chance of a day with only snow remains an essentially constant 3% 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 Kansas City is essentially constant, remaining about 1.1 inches throughout, and rarely exceeding 3.4 inches.

The lowest average 31-day accumulation is 0.6 inches on January 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 Kansas City is gradually increasing, starting the season at 1.6 inches, when it rarely exceeds 4.7 inches or falls below -0.0 inches, and ending the season at 1.8 inches, when it rarely exceeds 6.1 inches or falls below -0.0 inches.

The highest average 31-day accumulation is 3.2 inches on February 1.

Over the course of the winter in Kansas City, 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, 41 minutes, implying an average daily increase of 1 minute, 7 seconds, and weekly increase of 7 minutes, 52 seconds.

The shortest day of the winter is December 21, with 9 hours, 25 minutes of daylight and the longest day is February 29, with 11 hours, 19 minutes of daylight.

The latest sunrise of the winter in Kansas City is 7:37 AM on January 5 and the earliest sunrise is 46 minutes earlier at 6:51 AM on February 29.

The earliest sunset is 4:55 PM on December 7 and the latest sunset is 1 hour, 15 minutes later at 6:10 PM on February 29.

Daylight saving time is observed in Kansas City during 2023, but it neither starts nor ends during the winter, so the entire season is in standard time.

For reference, on June 21, the longest day of the year, the Sun rises at 5:52 AM and sets 14 hours, 55 minutes later, at 8:47 PM, while on December 22, the shortest day of the year, it rises at 7:34 AM and sets 9 hours, 25 minutes later, at 4:59 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 2023. 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 Kansas City is essentially constant during the winter, remaining around 0% throughout.

The lowest chance of a muggy day during the winter is 0% on December 17.

For reference, on July 23, the muggiest day of the year, there are muggy conditions 67% of the time, while on December 2, 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 Kansas City is gradually increasing during the winter, increasing from 10.8 miles per hour to 11.8 miles per hour over the course of the season.

For reference, on April 1, the windiest day of the year, the daily average wind speed is 12.6 miles per hour, while on August 7, the calmest day of the year, the daily average wind speed is 7.9 miles per hour.

The lowest daily average wind speed during the winter is 10.6 miles per hour on December 17.

The wind direction in Kansas City during the winter is predominantly out of the south from December 1 to December 22 and the north from December 22 to February 29.

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 Kansas City typically lasts for 7.0 months (214 days), from around April 3 to around November 2, rarely starting before March 13 or after April 21, and rarely ending before October 15 or after November 20.

The winter in Kansas City 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 Kansas City are very rapidly decreasing during the winter, decreasing by 4,429°F, from 4,475°F to 46°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 Kansas City is rapidly increasing during the winter, rising by 1.6 kWh, from 2.3 kWh to 3.8 kWh, over the course of the season.

The lowest average daily incident shortwave solar energy during the winter is 2.1 kWh on December 21.

For the purposes of this report, the geographical coordinates of Kansas City are 39.100 deg latitude, -94.579 deg longitude, and 899 ft elevation.

The topography within 2 miles of Kansas City contains only modest variations in elevation, with a maximum elevation change of 285 feet and an average elevation above sea level of 830 feet. Within 10 miles also contains only modest variations in elevation (377 feet). Within 50 miles contains only modest variations in elevation (531 feet).

The area within 2 miles of Kansas City is covered by artificial surfaces (100%), within 10 miles by artificial surfaces (82%) and trees (12%), and within 50 miles by cropland (72%) and trees (14%).