Traverse City weather in January

In January, Traverse City sees average daytime highs of 28°F and overnight lows near 17°F, with 2.1 in of precipitation across 11.8 wet days and about 9 hours of daylight. It is the 12th-warmest and 10th-wettest month of the year here.

Highs ease over the month, from about 30°F in the first days to 26°F by the end. The sky is clear or mostly clear about 6% of the time in January, and the air most often feels dry.

Daylight stretches from about 8 h 42 min at the start of January to 9 h 30 min by month's end. Set against the rest of the year, January is Traverse City's 12th-clearest and 4th-windiest month. For the whole year in context, see Traverse City's year-round climate.

Daytime high: 28°; 12th warmest
Overnight low: 17°; 2nd coldest
Precipitation: 2.1 in; 11.8 wet days
Daylight: 9 hours; 8:23 AM – 5:21 PM
Cloud cover: 86%; 12th clearest
Wind: 9 mph; 4th windiest
Solar energy: 1.53 kWh/m²
Travel score: 0.0; out of 10

Traverse City is city in and seat of Grand Traverse County, Michigan, United States.

Density: 679/km²; people per km²
Founded: 1891

Air quality: WHO Ambient Air Quality Database. Density & description: Wikidata (CC0), GeoNames.

← December Traverse City year-round climate February →Best places to visit in January

Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec

Temperature in January

Average highAverage lowShaded bands: 10–90% of days

Highs ease over the month, from about 30°F in the first days to 26°F by the end.

A typical January day in Traverse City reaches about 28°F in the afternoon and slips back to 17°F overnight — a 10°F spread between the day's warmth and the night's chill. On most days the high lands between 14°F and 38°F. Set against its neighbours, January runs about 6°F cooler than December and on par with February.

	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	22	23	24	25	26	27	28	29	30	31
Avg high (°F)	30	30	30	29	29	29	29	29	28	28	28	28	28	27	27	27	27	27	27	26	26	26	26	26	26	26	26	26	26	26	26
Avg low (°F)	22	21	21	21	20	20	20	19	19	19	18	18	18	17	17	17	17	16	16	16	16	15	15	15	15	15	15	15	15	15	15

	Avg high (°F)	Avg low (°F)
1	30	22
2	30	21
3	30	21
4	29	21
5	29	20
6	29	20
7	29	20
8	29	19
9	28	19
10	28	19
11	28	18
12	28	18
13	28	18
14	27	17
15	27	17
16	27	17
17	27	17
18	27	16
19	27	16
20	26	16
21	26	16
22	26	15
23	26	15
24	26	15
25	26	15
26	26	15
27	26	15
28	26	15
29	26	15
30	26	15
31	26	15

How January really feels in Traverse City

Once humidity and wind are folded in, January averages 0 days that feel above 90°F and 31 that feel at or below 32°F — the comfort signal a plain temperature reading hides.

Days feeling ≥ 90°F

heat index over the day's high

Days feeling ≤ 32°F

31 feel bitter (≤ 14°F)

The story in January is cold — wind chill drags the overnight "feels like" below the raw low.

Traverse City weather by month

How January compares with the rest of the year at a glance. January is the 12th-warmest and 10th-wettest month here — the current month is highlighted below.

Month	High / Low (°F)	Rainfall (inches)	Wet days	Snow days	Daylight (hours)	Travel score
Jan	28° / 17°	2.1	11.8	13.9	9	0.0
Feb	28° / 16°	1.6	8.5	8.8	10.1	0.0
Mar	38° / 23°	2.1	8.7	6.2	11.6	0.1
Apr	50° / 34°	3.2	11	3.5	13.2	2.3
May	62° / 45°	3.2	10.9	0.2	14.6	5.1
Jun	71° / 55°	3.1	10	0	15.3	6.6
Jul	76° / 61°	3.3	11	0	15	6.9
Aug	75° / 60°	3.3	10.6	0	13.9	7.0
Sep	69° / 53°	3.2	11.6	0	12.3	6.1
Oct	56° / 43°	3.7	14	0.4	10.7	3.4
Nov	43° / 34°	2.8	13.3	6.6	9.4	0.6
Dec	34° / 26°	2.4	13.3	13.3	8.7	0.0

Cloud cover in January

ClearMostly clearPartly cloudyMostly cloudyOvercast

The sky is clear or mostly clear about 6% of the time in January, the cloudiest month of the year.

Beyond those clear spells, partly cloudy skies cover about 4% of January, with mostly cloudy or overcast conditions the remaining 89%.

	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	22	23	24	25	26	27	28	29	30	31
Clearer (%)	9	9	9	9	9	8	8	9	9	9	9	9	9	9	9	9	9	9	10	11	10	10	11	11	12	13	13	14	16	16	16
Cloudier (%)	91	91	91	91	91	92	92	91	91	91	91	91	91	91	91	91	91	91	90	89	90	90	89	89	88	87	87	86	84	84	84

	Clearer (%)	Cloudier (%)
1	9	91
2	9	91
3	9	91
4	9	91
5	9	91
6	8	92
7	8	92
8	9	91
9	9	91
10	9	91
11	9	91
12	9	91
13	9	91
14	9	91
15	9	91
16	9	91
17	9	91
18	9	91
19	10	90
20	11	89
21	10	90
22	10	90
23	11	89
24	11	89
25	12	88
26	13	87
27	13	87
28	14	86
29	16	84
30	16	84
31	16	84

Chance of precipitation in January

Any precipitationSnow

Traverse City gets around 2.1 in of rain and snow over 11.8 wet days in January. The line is the day-by-day chance of measurable precipitation.

Day to day, the chance of measurable precipitation averages around 38% and peaks near 40% on the wettest days, and about 14 days bring snow. The odds ease toward the end of the month.

	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	22	23	24	25	26	27	28	29	30	31
Rain chance (%)	40	40	40	40	39	39	39	39	39	39	39	39	39	39	39	39	39	39	38	38	38	37	37	36	36	35	35	34	34	33	32
Snow chance (%)	45	45	45	45	45	46	46	46	47	47	47	47	47	47	47	46	46	46	46	45	45	45	44	43	43	42	41	40	40	39	38

	Rain chance (%)	Snow chance (%)
1	40	45
2	40	45
3	40	45
4	40	45
5	39	45
6	39	46
7	39	46
8	39	46
9	39	47
10	39	47
11	39	47
12	39	47
13	39	47
14	39	47
15	39	47
16	39	46
17	39	46
18	39	46
19	38	46
20	38	45
21	38	45
22	37	45
23	37	44
24	36	43
25	36	43
26	35	42
27	35	41
28	34	40
29	34	40
30	33	39
31	32	38

Humidity in January

DryComfortableHumidMuggyOppressiveMiserable

Most of January feels dry — the stacked bands show each day's mix of comfort levels, read off the dew point.

By dew point, January lands in the dry band about 100% of days. It rarely turns muggy — the humid and sticky bands barely register.

	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	22	23	24	25	26	27	28	29	30	31
Dry (%)	100	100	100	100	100	100	100	100	100	100	100	100	100	100	100	100	100	100	100	100	100	100	100	100	100	100	100	100	100	100	100

	Dry (%)
1	100
2	100
3	100
4	100
5	100
6	100
7	100
8	100
9	100
10	100
11	100
12	100
13	100
14	100
15	100
16	100
17	100
18	100
19	100
20	100
21	100
22	100
23	100
24	100
25	100
26	100
27	100
28	100
29	100
30	100
31	100

Wind in January

Winds average 9 mph in January.

Across January, daily wind ranges from about 9 mph on the calmest days to 10 mph at its breeziest. It stays fairly steady from day to day.

	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	22	23	24	25	26	27	28	29	30	31
Wind speed (mph)	10	10	10	10	10	10	10	10	10	10	10	10	9	9	9	9	9	9	9	9	9	9	9	9	9	9	9	9	9	9	9
Feels	light breeze	light breeze	light breeze	light breeze	light breeze	light breeze	light breeze	light breeze	light breeze	light breeze	light breeze	light breeze	light breeze	light breeze	light breeze	light breeze	light breeze	light breeze	light breeze	light breeze	light breeze	light breeze	light breeze	light breeze	light breeze	light breeze	light breeze	light breeze	light breeze	light breeze	light breeze

	Wind speed (mph)	Feels
1	10	light breeze
2	10	light breeze
3	10	light breeze
4	10	light breeze
5	10	light breeze
6	10	light breeze
7	10	light breeze
8	10	light breeze
9	10	light breeze
10	10	light breeze
11	10	light breeze
12	10	light breeze
13	9	light breeze
14	9	light breeze
15	9	light breeze
16	9	light breeze
17	9	light breeze
18	9	light breeze
19	9	light breeze
20	9	light breeze
21	9	light breeze
22	9	light breeze
23	9	light breeze
24	9	light breeze
25	9	light breeze
26	9	light breeze
27	9	light breeze
28	9	light breeze
29	9	light breeze
30	9	light breeze
31	9	light breeze

Sunrise & sunset in January

DaylightNight

Daylight runs from about 8 h 42 min at the start of January to 9 h 30 min by month's end. The lit band spans sunrise to sunset each day.

Days grow by about 48 minutes over January. Sunrise moves from 8:26 AM to 8:11 AM, and sunset from 5:06 PM to 5:40 PM.

	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	22	23	24	25	26	27	28	29	30	31
Daylight (h)	8.7	8.7	8.7	8.7	8.7	8.7	8.8	8.8	8.8	8.8	8.8	8.9	8.9	8.9	8.9	9.0	9.0	9.0	9.1	9.1	9.1	9.1	9.2	9.2	9.3	9.3	9.3	9.4	9.4	9.4	9.5
Sunrise (AM)	8:26	8:26	8:26	8:26	8:26	8:26	8:26	8:25	8:25	8:25	8:25	8:24	8:24	8:24	8:23	8:23	8:22	8:22	8:21	8:21	8:20	8:19	8:18	8:18	8:17	8:16	8:15	8:14	8:13	8:12	8:11
Sunset (PM)	5:06	5:06	5:07	5:08	5:09	5:10	5:11	5:12	5:13	5:14	5:15	5:16	5:17	5:18	5:20	5:21	5:22	5:23	5:24	5:26	5:27	5:28	5:29	5:31	5:32	5:33	5:35	5:36	5:37	5:39	5:40

	Daylight (h)	Sunrise (AM)	Sunset (PM)
1	8.7	8:26	5:06
2	8.7	8:26	5:06
3	8.7	8:26	5:07
4	8.7	8:26	5:08
5	8.7	8:26	5:09
6	8.7	8:26	5:10
7	8.8	8:26	5:11
8	8.8	8:25	5:12
9	8.8	8:25	5:13
10	8.8	8:25	5:14
11	8.8	8:25	5:15
12	8.9	8:24	5:16
13	8.9	8:24	5:17
14	8.9	8:24	5:18
15	8.9	8:23	5:20
16	9.0	8:23	5:21
17	9.0	8:22	5:22
18	9.0	8:22	5:23
19	9.1	8:21	5:24
20	9.1	8:21	5:26
21	9.1	8:20	5:27
22	9.1	8:19	5:28
23	9.2	8:18	5:29
24	9.2	8:18	5:31
25	9.3	8:17	5:32
26	9.3	8:16	5:33
27	9.3	8:15	5:35
28	9.4	8:14	5:36
29	9.4	8:13	5:37
30	9.4	8:12	5:39
31	9.5	8:11	5:40

Solar energy in January

Daily solar energy (kWh/m²)

Average shortwave solar energy reaching the ground each day in January, about 1.53 kWh/m².

For context, solar energy here swings from a low near 1.13 kWh/m² to a high of 6.49 kWh/m² in June across the year — January's 1.53 kWh/m² sits near the bottom.

	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	22	23	24	25	26	27	28	29	30	31
Solar energy (kWh/m²)	1.2	1.2	1.2	1.2	1.3	1.3	1.3	1.3	1.3	1.4	1.4	1.4	1.4	1.5	1.5	1.5	1.6	1.6	1.6	1.6	1.7	1.7	1.8	1.8	1.8	1.9	1.9	1.9	2.0	2.0	2.1
Level	Dim	Dim	Dim	Dim	Dim	Dim	Dim	Dim	Dim	Dim	Dim	Dim	Dim	Dim	Dim	Dim	Dim	Dim	Dim	Dim	Dim	Dim	Dim	Dim	Dim	Dim	Dim	Dim	Dim	Moderate	Moderate

	Solar energy (kWh/m²)	Level
1	1.2	Dim
2	1.2	Dim
3	1.2	Dim
4	1.2	Dim
5	1.3	Dim
6	1.3	Dim
7	1.3	Dim
8	1.3	Dim
9	1.3	Dim
10	1.4	Dim
11	1.4	Dim
12	1.4	Dim
13	1.4	Dim
14	1.5	Dim
15	1.5	Dim
16	1.5	Dim
17	1.6	Dim
18	1.6	Dim
19	1.6	Dim
20	1.6	Dim
21	1.7	Dim
22	1.7	Dim
23	1.8	Dim
24	1.8	Dim
25	1.8	Dim
26	1.9	Dim
27	1.9	Dim
28	1.9	Dim
29	2.0	Dim
30	2.0	Moderate
31	2.1	Moderate

Planning a trip in January

Is January a good time to visit Traverse City?

Our two travel scores rate January for general sightseeing and for beach or pool weather — 0 (poor) to 10 (ideal).

0.0

Sightseeing

10th-best month of the year

0.0

Beach & pool

8th-best month of the year

January is a weaker month for outdoor sightseeing in Traverse City.

What to pack for Traverse City in January

From January's temperature range, rain chance, sun and wind — what's worth putting in the bag.

In January, Traverse City sees daytime highs around 28°F and nights near 17°F. Pack a warm layer and a heavy coat. Worth having: rain gear. About 12 days see rain.

a warm layera heavy coatrain gear

Sea temperature near Traverse City in January

The nearest coast averages about 38°F in January — the other half of the beach question. The full-year curve and swim-comfort zones are below.

The sea offshore is warmest in August at about 68°F and coldest in March near 35°F.

The water stays below 68°F all year — cool enough that most swimmers want a wetsuit.

	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec
Sea temperature (°F)	38	36	35	37	40	50	64	68	65	56	48	42
Comfort	Bracing	Bracing	Bracing	Bracing	Bracing	Bracing	Cool	Refreshing	Cool	Bracing	Bracing	Bracing

	Sea temperature (°F)	Comfort
Jan	38	Bracing
Feb	36	Bracing
Mar	35	Bracing
Apr	37	Bracing
May	40	Bracing
Jun	50	Bracing
Jul	64	Cool
Aug	68	Refreshing
Sep	65	Cool
Oct	56	Bracing
Nov	48	Bracing
Dec	42	Bracing

UV index in Traverse City in January

LowModerateHighVery highExtreme

Clear-sky midday UV in January peaks around 1. The full-year curve, shaded by WHO exposure level, is below.

Under clear skies, the midday UV index in Traverse City peaks around June 18 at about 9 (very high) — sunscreen, a hat and midday shade are essential. It bottoms out near January 1 at about 1 (low).

The index reaches 3 or more — the level where the WHO recommends sun protection — in 7 months of the year.

	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec
UV index (midday)	1	2	4	5	7	9	8	7	5	3	2	1
Level	Low	Low	Moderate	Moderate	Very high	Very high	Very high	High	Moderate	Moderate	Low	Low

	UV index (midday)	Level
Jan	1	Low
Feb	2	Low
Mar	4	Moderate
Apr	5	Moderate
May	7	Very high
Jun	9	Very high
Jul	8	Very high
Aug	7	High
Sep	5	Moderate
Oct	3	Moderate
Nov	2	Low
Dec	1	Low

Location & terrain

Where is Traverse City?

Traverse City sits at 44.8°N, 85.6°W, 597 ft above sea level, in United States. The nearest listed city is Mackinac Island, 89 mi away.

Topography around Traverse City

How much the land rises and falls, and what covers it, within 2, 10 and 50 miles of Traverse City.

Within 2 miles, the terrain around Traverse City has only modest variations in elevation — a maximum elevation change of 404 ft around an average of 627 ft above sea level; within 10 miles, only modest variations in elevation — a maximum elevation change of 679 ft; within 50 miles, significant variations in elevation — a maximum elevation change of 1,224 ft.

The land around Traverse City is covered by water (33%), trees (32%) and artificial surfaces (24%) within 2 miles, trees (48%), water (25%) and grassland (22%) within 10 miles, and trees (49%) and water (37%) within 50 miles.

2 miles

404 ft

water 33%

10 miles

679 ft

trees 48%

50 miles

1,224 ft

trees 49%

treesgrasslandcroplandartificial surfaceswater

← December Traverse City year-round climate February →Best places to visit in January

January weather nearby: Mackinac Island 89 mi · Mount Pleasant 91 mi · Midland 104 mi · Muskegon 110 mi · Manitowoc 111 mi · Norton Shores 115 mi · Bellevue 115 mi · Bay City 118 mi

United States travel facts

Power plugs: Type A / B; 120 V · 60 Hz
Prices: ≈ 100% of US; price level, 2025
GDP per capita: $90,027; 2025
Happiness: 6.8 / 10; World Happiness, 2025
Safe drinking water: 98%; of population, 2024
Homicide rate: 5.8; per 100k, 2023
Road deaths: 12.7; per 100k/yr, 2019
Income group: High; World Bank
Religion

Sources: World Bank, US State Department, World Happiness Report, WHO/UNICEF, EF EPI, CIA World Factbook.

Data sources

Temperature, precipitation, cloud, humidity, wind and solar figures are a 1991–2020 climatology for Traverse City (44.7631°, -85.6206°, elevation 597 ft), computed from hourly ERA5 reanalysis — contains modified Copernicus Climate Change Service information. Sun figures are astronomical calculations, not observations. City data © GeoNames, CC BY 4.0. Map outlines from Natural Earth (public domain); interactive map © Google. Sea temperatures are the NOAA OISST v2.1 1991–2020 monthly climatology (public domain), sampled at the nearest ocean point. UV index is derived from CAMS (Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service) clear-sky UV data — contains modified Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service information. Topography is sampled from the Copernicus DEM GLO-90 elevation model (© ESA/Airbus) and ESA WorldCover 2021 land cover (CC BY 4.0).

	Avg high (°F)	Avg low (°F)
1	30	22
2	30	21
3	30	21
4	29	21
5	29	20
6	29	20
7	29	20
8	29	19
9	28	19
10	28	19
11	28	18
12	28	18
13	28	18
14	27	17
15	27	17
16	27	17
17	27	17
18	27	16
19	27	16
20	26	16
21	26	16
22	26	15
23	26	15
24	26	15
25	26	15
26	26	15
27	26	15
28	26	15
29	26	15
30	26	15
31	26	15

	Clearer (%)	Cloudier (%)
1	9	91
2	9	91
3	9	91
4	9	91
5	9	91
6	8	92
7	8	92
8	9	91
9	9	91
10	9	91
11	9	91
12	9	91
13	9	91
14	9	91
15	9	91
16	9	91
17	9	91
18	9	91
19	10	90
20	11	89
21	10	90
22	10	90
23	11	89
24	11	89
25	12	88
26	13	87
27	13	87
28	14	86
29	16	84
30	16	84
31	16	84

	Rain chance (%)	Snow chance (%)
1	40	45
2	40	45
3	40	45
4	40	45
5	39	45
6	39	46
7	39	46
8	39	46
9	39	47
10	39	47
11	39	47
12	39	47
13	39	47
14	39	47
15	39	47
16	39	46
17	39	46
18	39	46
19	38	46
20	38	45
21	38	45
22	37	45
23	37	44
24	36	43
25	36	43
26	35	42
27	35	41
28	34	40
29	34	40
30	33	39
31	32	38

	Dry (%)
1	100
2	100
3	100
4	100
5	100
6	100
7	100
8	100
9	100
10	100
11	100
12	100
13	100
14	100
15	100
16	100
17	100
18	100
19	100
20	100
21	100
22	100
23	100
24	100
25	100
26	100
27	100
28	100
29	100
30	100
31	100

	Avg high (°F)	Avg low (°F)
1	30	22
2	30	21
3	30	21
4	29	21
5	29	20
6	29	20
7	29	20
8	29	19
9	28	19
10	28	19
11	28	18
12	28	18
13	28	18
14	27	17
15	27	17
16	27	17
17	27	17
18	27	16
19	27	16
20	26	16
21	26	16
22	26	15
23	26	15
24	26	15
25	26	15
26	26	15
27	26	15
28	26	15
29	26	15
30	26	15
31	26	15

	Clearer (%)	Cloudier (%)
1	9	91
2	9	91
3	9	91
4	9	91
5	9	91
6	8	92
7	8	92
8	9	91
9	9	91
10	9	91
11	9	91
12	9	91
13	9	91
14	9	91
15	9	91
16	9	91
17	9	91
18	9	91
19	10	90
20	11	89
21	10	90
22	10	90
23	11	89
24	11	89
25	12	88
26	13	87
27	13	87
28	14	86
29	16	84
30	16	84
31	16	84

	Rain chance (%)	Snow chance (%)
1	40	45
2	40	45
3	40	45
4	40	45
5	39	45
6	39	46
7	39	46
8	39	46
9	39	47
10	39	47
11	39	47
12	39	47
13	39	47
14	39	47
15	39	47
16	39	46
17	39	46
18	39	46
19	38	46
20	38	45
21	38	45
22	37	45
23	37	44
24	36	43
25	36	43
26	35	42
27	35	41
28	34	40
29	34	40
30	33	39
31	32	38

	Dry (%)
1	100
2	100
3	100
4	100
5	100
6	100
7	100
8	100
9	100
10	100
11	100
12	100
13	100
14	100
15	100
16	100
17	100
18	100
19	100
20	100
21	100
22	100
23	100
24	100
25	100
26	100
27	100
28	100
29	100
30	100
31	100

	Avg high (°F)	Avg low (°F)
1	30	22
2	30	21
3	30	21
4	29	21
5	29	20
6	29	20
7	29	20
8	29	19
9	28	19
10	28	19
11	28	18
12	28	18
13	28	18
14	27	17
15	27	17
16	27	17
17	27	17
18	27	16
19	27	16
20	26	16
21	26	16
22	26	15
23	26	15
24	26	15
25	26	15
26	26	15
27	26	15
28	26	15
29	26	15
30	26	15
31	26	15

	Clearer (%)	Cloudier (%)
1	9	91
2	9	91
3	9	91
4	9	91
5	9	91
6	8	92
7	8	92
8	9	91
9	9	91
10	9	91
11	9	91
12	9	91
13	9	91
14	9	91
15	9	91
16	9	91
17	9	91
18	9	91
19	10	90
20	11	89
21	10	90
22	10	90
23	11	89
24	11	89
25	12	88
26	13	87
27	13	87
28	14	86
29	16	84
30	16	84
31	16	84

	Rain chance (%)	Snow chance (%)
1	40	45
2	40	45
3	40	45
4	40	45
5	39	45
6	39	46
7	39	46
8	39	46
9	39	47
10	39	47
11	39	47
12	39	47
13	39	47
14	39	47
15	39	47
16	39	46
17	39	46
18	39	46
19	38	46
20	38	45
21	38	45
22	37	45
23	37	44
24	36	43
25	36	43
26	35	42
27	35	41
28	34	40
29	34	40
30	33	39
31	32	38

	Dry (%)
1	100
2	100
3	100
4	100
5	100
6	100
7	100
8	100
9	100
10	100
11	100
12	100
13	100
14	100
15	100
16	100
17	100
18	100
19	100
20	100
21	100
22	100
23	100
24	100
25	100
26	100
27	100
28	100
29	100
30	100
31	100