Climate averages 1991–2020

Otaru weather
in January.

A freezing month with heavy precipitation: the coolest and the 6th driest of the year.

Long-term climate patterns, not a forecast for a particular trip.

Average high -2.3°C Daytime mean, January

Average low -5.8°C Night-time mean, January

Precipitation 98 mm 21 days with ≥1 mm

Daylight 9 h Sunrise to sunset, per day

January is a freezing month in Otaru: daytime highs average -2.3°C and nights cool to about -5.8°C. By daytime temperature it is the coolest month of the year.

Expect about 98 mm of precipitation on roughly 21 days, which makes January a month with heavy precipitation (the 6th driest of the 12 months). Daylight, from sunrise to sunset, lasts about 9 h 23 min on an average January day.

The nearest other city in this atlas is Sapporo (31 km away). In January its highs average -3.0°C, 0.7°C cooler than Otaru, with 52 mm of precipitation.

Among the 303 cities listed in Japan, Otaru ranks joint 295th of 303 for the warmest January highs and joint 263rd of 303 for the driest January (precipitation, lowest first). The mean January high of those 303 cities is 7.0°C; Otaru is 9.2°C cooler than that mean.

From January to February, average highs rise by 0.6°C to -1.6°C, and monthly precipitation falls from 98 mm to 80 mm.

The annual picture

January in context

30-year average

Average highAverage low°C

Monthly precipitation

Average total · mm

Averages from hourly ERA5 reanalysis data. Actual weather varies from year to year. How these numbers are calculated

Every month, side by side

Otaru climate table

1991–2020

Monthly climate averages for Otaru, 1991–2020
Month	Average highHigh / low	Average low	Precipitation mm/month	Wet days ≥1 mm/day	Daylight hours/dayDaylight h/day
January, selected	-2.3°C-5.8°C	-5.8°C	98	20.8	9.49 h
February	-1.6°C-5.7°C	-5.7°C	80	18.2	10.510 h
March	1.8°C-3.0°C	-3.0°C	76	15.0	11.912 h
April	7.3°C1.4°C	1.4°C	66	11.2	13.413 h
May	15.1°C7.0°C	7.0°C	84	11.7	14.615 h
June	19.6°C12.2°C	12.2°C	76	10.6	15.315 h
July	23.5°C17.0°C	17.0°C	127	12.8	15.015 h
August	24.4°C18.8°C	18.8°C	163	14.1	14.014 h
September	20.8°C15.3°C	15.3°C	149	13.9	12.513 h
October	14.4°C9.0°C	9.0°C	117	14.9	11.111 h
November	6.8°C2.3°C	2.3°C	129	18.6	9.810 h
December	0.3°C-2.7°C	-2.7°C	125	21.9	9.19 h

Precipitation (rain or snow, as water) is the average of the 30 separate monthly totals. A wet day is a local calendar day with at least 1 mm of precipitation. Daylight is the calculated sunrise-to-sunset length, not measured sunshine.

Compare places

January in nearby cities

Distance from Otaru

Read the numbers correctly

Climate, not a promise.

These patterns help compare months. They cannot tell you the weather on a specific day of your trip.

Sources, method and limits

How these numbers are made (what the highs, lows and rain days mean, the sources and the model cell used for Otaru) is explained once on the Otaru year overview and on the Sources, method and limits page.