Average Weather at Kake Airport Alaska, United States

1. World
2. United States
3. Alaska
4. Petersburg Census Area
5. Kake Airport

At Kake Airport, the summers are cool and mostly cloudy; the winters are long, chilly, windy, and overcast; and it is wet year round. Over the course of the year, the temperature typically varies from 29°F to 64°F and is rarely below 15°F or above 70°F.

The warm season lasts for 3.3 months, from May 31 to September 10, with an average daily high temperature above 58°F. The hottest day of the year is July 31, with an average high of 64°F and low of 51°F.

The cold season lasts for 4.3 months, from November 9 to March 18, with an average daily high temperature below 42°F. The coldest day of the year is January 1, with an average low of 29°F and high of 37°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 Kake 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 Kake Airport begins around April 21 and lasts for 5.1 months, ending around September 23. On August 12, the clearest day of the year, the sky is clear, mostly clear, or partly cloudy 37% of the time, and overcast or mostly cloudy 63% of the time.

The cloudier part of the year begins around September 23 and lasts for 6.9 months, ending around April 21. On January 24, the cloudiest day of the year, the sky is overcast or mostly cloudy 78% of the time, and clear, mostly clear, or partly cloudy 22% 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 Kake Airport varies significantly throughout the year.

The wetter season lasts 5.5 months, from August 25 to February 10, with a greater than 55% chance of a given day being a wet day. The chance of a wet day peaks at 72% on October 23.

The drier season lasts 6.5 months, from February 10 to August 25. The smallest chance of a wet day is 39% on June 23.

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 throughout the year is rain alone, with a peak probability of 71% on October 20.

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. Kake Airport experiences extreme seasonal variation in monthly rainfall.

Rain falls throughout the year at Kake Airport. The most rain falls during the 31 days centered around October 14, with an average total accumulation of 12.6 inches.

The least rain falls around June 9, with an average total accumulation of 3.9 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. Kake Airport experiences significant seasonal variation in monthly liquid-equivalent snowfall.

The snowy period of the year lasts for 5.4 months, from October 25 to April 6, with a sliding 31-day liquid-equivalent snowfall of at least 0.1 inches. The most snow falls during the 31 days centered around January 15, with an average total liquid-equivalent accumulation of 1.0 inches.

The snowless period of the year lasts for 6.6 months, from April 6 to October 25. The least snow falls around July 30, with an average total liquid-equivalent accumulation of 0.0 inches.

The length of the day at Kake Airport varies extremely over the course of the year. In 2017, the shortest day is December 21, with 6 hours, 43 minutes of daylight; the longest day is June 21, with 17 hours, 53 minutes of daylight.

The earliest sunrise is at 4:00 AM on June 18, and the latest sunrise is 4 hours, 33 minutes later at 8:34 AM on December 28. The earliest sunset is at 3:13 PM on December 14, and the latest sunset is 6 hours, 40 minutes later at 9:54 PM on June 23.

Daylight saving time (DST) is observed at Kake 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 Kake 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 Kake Airport experiences mild seasonal variation over the course of the year.

The windier part of the year lasts for 7.0 months, from September 26 to April 26, with average wind speeds of more than 4.4 miles per hour. The windiest day of the year is December 10, with an average hourly wind speed of 5.8 miles per hour.

The calmer time of year lasts for 5.0 months, from April 26 to September 26. The calmest day of the year is July 18, with an average hourly wind speed of 3.0 miles per hour.

The predominant average hourly wind direction at Kake Airport varies throughout the year.

The wind is most often from the south for 6.8 months, from April 6 to November 1, with a peak percentage of 47% on October 4. The wind is most often from the east for 5.2 months, from November 1 to April 6, with a peak percentage of 47% on January 1.

Kake Airport 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 water temperature experiences some seasonal variation over the course of the year.

The time of year with warmer water lasts for 2.5 months, from July 4 to September 19, with an average temperature above 51°F. The day of the year with the warmest water is August 13, with an average temperature of 54°F.

The time of year with cooler water lasts for 4.5 months, from December 18 to May 2, with an average temperature below 44°F. The day of the year with the coolest water is March 11, with an average temperature of 41°F.

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 significant seasonal variation over the course of the year.

The brighter period of the year lasts for 3.2 months, from May 2 to August 9, with an average daily incident shortwave energy per square meter above 4.1 kWh. The brightest day of the year is June 20, with an average of 5.1 kWh.

The darker period of the year lasts for 4.2 months, from October 14 to February 20, with an average daily incident shortwave energy per square meter below 1.2 kWh. The darkest day of the year is December 20, with an average of 0.3 kWh.

For the purposes of this report, the geographical coordinates of Kake Airport are 56.963 deg latitude, -133.912 deg longitude, and 144 ft elevation.

The topography within 2 miles of Kake Airport contains significant variations in elevation, with a maximum elevation change of 597 feet and an average elevation above sea level of 181 feet. Within 10 miles contains significant variations in elevation (2,822 feet). Within 50 miles contains large variations in elevation (7,011 feet).

The area within 2 miles of Kake Airport is covered by trees (62%) and water (34%), within 10 miles by water (46%) and trees (44%), and within 50 miles by trees (43%) and water (41%).

This report illustrates the typical weather at Kake 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

Kake 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 Angoon Seaplane Base, Petersburg James A. Johnson Airport, Sitka Rocky Gutierrez Airport, Wrangell Airport, and Klawock 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.