Average Weather at McKinley National Park Airport Alaska, United States

1. World
2. United States
3. Alaska
4. Denali Borough
5. McKinley National Park Airport

At McKinley National Park Airport, the summers are cool, wet, and overcast and the winters are long, frigid, snowy, and partly cloudy. Over the course of the year, the temperature typically varies from -10°F to 65°F and is rarely below -39°F or above 75°F.

The warm season lasts for 3.5 months, from May 19 to September 4, with an average daily high temperature above 54°F. The hottest day of the year is July 8, with an average high of 65°F and low of 45°F.

The cold season lasts for 4.0 months, from November 3 to March 2, with an average daily high temperature below 21°F. The coldest day of the year is January 18, with an average low of -10°F and high of 10°F.

The figure below shows you a compact characterization of the entire year of hourly average temperatures. The horizontal axis is the day of the year, the vertical axis is the hour of the day, and the color is the average temperature for that hour and day.

At McKinley National Park Airport, the average percentage of the sky covered by clouds experiences mild seasonal variation over the course of the year.

The clearer part of the year at McKinley National Park Airport begins around December 31 and lasts for 3.2 months, ending around April 7. On March 8, the clearest day of the year, the sky is clear, mostly clear, or partly cloudy 43% of the time, and overcast or mostly cloudy 57% of the time.

The cloudier part of the year begins around April 7 and lasts for 8.8 months, ending around December 31. On July 25, the cloudiest day of the year, the sky is overcast or mostly cloudy 70% of the time, and clear, mostly clear, or partly cloudy 30% of the time.

A wet day is one with at least 0.04 inches of liquid or liquid-equivalent precipitation. The chance of wet days at McKinley National Park Airport varies significantly throughout the year.

The wetter season lasts 4.5 months, from May 22 to October 7, with a greater than 28% chance of a given day being a wet day. The chance of a wet day peaks at 48% on July 16.

The drier season lasts 7.5 months, from October 7 to May 22. The smallest chance of a wet day is 8% on March 7.

Among wet days, we distinguish between those that experience rain alone, snow alone, or a mixture of the two. Based on this categorization, the most common form of precipitation at McKinley National Park Airport changes throughout the year.

Snow alone is the most common for 6.6 months, from October 5 to April 23. The highest chance of a day with snow alone is 14% on October 22.

Rain alone is the most common for 5.4 months, from April 23 to October 5. The highest chance of a day with rain alone is 48% on July 16.

Rainfall

To show variation within the months and not just the monthly totals, we show the rainfall accumulated over a sliding 31-day period centered around each day of the year. McKinley National Park Airport experiences extreme seasonal variation in monthly rainfall.

The rainy period of the year lasts for 5.5 months, from April 30 to October 16, with a sliding 31-day rainfall of at least 0.5 inches. The most rain falls during the 31 days centered around July 8, with an average total accumulation of 4.4 inches.

The rainless period of the year lasts for 6.5 months, from October 16 to April 30. The least rain falls around March 9, with an average total accumulation of 0.0 inches.

Snowfall

We report snowfall in liquid-equivalent terms. The actual depth of new snowfall is typically between 5 and 10 times the liquid-equivalent amount, assuming the ground is frozen. Colder, drier snow tends to be on the higher end of that range and warmer, wetter snow on the lower end.

As with rainfall, we consider the snowfall accumulated over a sliding 31-day period centered around each day of the year. McKinley National Park Airport experiences some seasonal variation in monthly liquid-equivalent snowfall.

The snowy period of the year lasts for 8.8 months, from August 31 to May 26, with a sliding 31-day liquid-equivalent snowfall of at least 0.1 inches. The most snow falls during the 31 days centered around October 14, with an average total liquid-equivalent accumulation of 0.9 inches.

The snowless period of the year lasts for 3.2 months, from May 26 to August 31. The least snow falls around June 22, with an average total liquid-equivalent accumulation of 0.0 inches.

The length of the day at McKinley National Park Airport varies extremely over the course of the year. In 2017, the shortest day is December 21, with 4 hours, 21 minutes of daylight; the longest day is June 21, with 20 hours, 49 minutes of daylight.

The earliest sunrise is at 3:32 AM on June 19, and the latest sunrise is 7 hours, 12 minutes later at 10:44 AM on December 24. The earliest sunset is at 3:03 PM on December 17, and the latest sunset is 9 hours, 19 minutes later at 12:22 AM on June 21.

Daylight saving time (DST) is observed at McKinley National Park Airport during 2017, starting in the spring on March 12, lasting 7.8 months, and ending in the fall on November 5.

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 perceived humidity level at McKinley National Park Airport, as measured by the percentage of time in which the humidity comfort level is muggy, oppressive, or miserable, does not vary significantly over the course of the year, remaining a virtually constant 0% throughout.

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 at McKinley National Park Airport experiences mild seasonal variation over the course of the year.

The windier part of the year lasts for 4.2 months, from November 8 to March 15, with average wind speeds of more than 3.9 miles per hour. The windiest day of the year is January 8, with an average hourly wind speed of 4.6 miles per hour.

The calmer time of year lasts for 7.8 months, from March 15 to November 8. The calmest day of the year is June 26, with an average hourly wind speed of 3.2 miles per hour.

The predominant average hourly wind direction at McKinley National Park Airport is from the south throughout the year.

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 experiences extreme seasonal variation over the course of the year.

The brighter period of the year lasts for 3.5 months, from April 20 to August 3, with an average daily incident shortwave energy per square meter above 4.3 kWh. The brightest day of the year is June 21, with an average of 5.4 kWh.

The darker period of the year lasts for 4.2 months, from October 16 to February 22, with an average daily incident shortwave energy per square meter below 1.2 kWh. The darkest day of the year is December 22, with an average of 0.1 kWh.

For the purposes of this report, the geographical coordinates of McKinley National Park Airport are 63.732 deg latitude, -148.911 deg longitude, and 2,224 ft elevation.

The topography within 2 miles of McKinley National Park Airport contains large variations in elevation, with a maximum elevation change of 2,290 feet and an average elevation above sea level of 2,039 feet. Within 10 miles contains large variations in elevation (4,954 feet). Within 50 miles also contains extreme variations in elevation (9,337 feet).

The area within 2 miles of McKinley National Park Airport is covered by trees (82%) and shrubs (15%), within 10 miles by shrubs (48%) and trees (30%), and within 50 miles by shrubs (42%) and trees (21%).

This report illustrates the typical weather at McKinley National Park Airport, based on a statistical analysis of historical hourly weather reports and model reconstructions from January 1, 1980 to December 31, 2016.

Temperature and Dew Point

McKinley National Park Airport has a weather station that reported reliably enough during the analysis period that we have included it in our network. When available, historical temperature and dew point measurements are taken directly from this weather station. These records are obtained from NOAA's Integrated Surface Hourly data set, falling back on ICAO METAR records as required.

In the case of missing or erroneous measurements from this station, we fall back on records from nearby stations, adjusted according to typical seasonal and diurnal intra-station differences. For a given day of the year and hour of the day, the fallback station is selected to minimize the prediction error over the years for which there are measurements for both stations.

The stations on which we may fall back are Summit Airport, Nenana Municipal Airport, Fairbanks International Airport, Ladd Army Airfield, Talkeetna Airport, Eielson Air Force Base, Allen Army Air Field, and Minchumina Airport.

Other Data

All data relating to the Sun's position (e.g., sunrise and sunset) are computed using astronomical formulas from the book, Astronomical Tables of the Sun, Moon and Planets , 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 aiports and weather stations are provided by AskGeo.com .

Maps are © Esri, with data from National Geographic, Esri, DeLorme, NAVTEQ, UNEP-WCMC, USGS, NASA, ESA, METI, NRCAN, GEBCO, NOAA, and iPC.