Otaru in January:
freezing cold, snow almost daily

Snow and ice cover the canal area in the coldest month of the year. On heavy snow days trains can run late. Mixing in indoor stops such as the music box museum keeps the day comfortable.

The afternoon high rarely climbed far above freezing: −1°C by day and −6°C at night. Precipitation came so often (23 days on average) that dry stretches were short and worth using. At −1°C by day, a good share of the wet days were snow days, so the rain-day count includes fresh snow and the totals count it as melted water. A visitor in 2020 met 14 precipitation days; one in 2022 met 29. The average of 23 hid that gap.

With as little as 9.0 hours of daylight, the sightseeing day was short and dinner came after dark. Nights dropped below 0°C on 31 days of the month on average, so early-morning paths could be icy. January 2009 averaged 1.3°C by day, 2.0°C above the 20-year mean. Cold snaps happened: the record low for January was −14°C, set in 2021.