January had below average temperatures and above average precipitation. But perhaps overshadowing both of these was the extreme variability that was seen in the span of just over two weeks! The average daily high for January was 33.1, 6.7 degrees below normal. The average overnight low was 19.5, one tenth of a degree above normal. This resulted in a monthly mean temperature of 26.3, 3.3 degrees below normal. The highest temperature for the month was 69 on the 31st. The coldest was the overnight low of -12 on the 15th. This resulted in a monthly mean temperature extreme for the month of 81 degrees. The high of 1 degree on the 14th was 38 degrees below normal for that date. The high of 69 on the 31st was 27 degrees above normal for that date!
There were several temperature records set in January. The low of -12 on the 15th broke the old record low of -6 set in 1979 and again in 1984. The low of -11 on the 16th broke the old record low for that date of -7, also set in 1979 and again in 1984. The following are all record low high temperatures. The high of 5 on the 13th broke the old record of 6 set in 1979. The high of 1 on the 14th broke the old record of 7 set in 1972 and the high of 4 on the 15th broke the old record of 13 set in 2005. While we were below normal we were fortunately a long way from record cold! The coldest January on record was in 1979 when the monthly mean temperature was only 12.1 degrees. The warmest January on record was in 2006 with a monthly mean tempeature of 43.9, a monthly temperature more appropriate for the month of March!
A rainy/snowy period just ahead of the bitterly cold weather brought well above average precipitation to the area for January. Total liquid precipitation was 1.87 inches, two and a half times the January normal of 0.73 inches. After receiving double the normal December precipitation, the winter has us well set up for good spring growth! January and February are tied for the snowiest months with average snowfall of 4.7 inches each month. The area received 7.6 inches of snowfall in January, all in a week and a half period ending on the 15th. Long term average snowfall, season to date, total through January is 9.4 inches. Season to date we have received 16.5 inches, just 1.5 inches below the long term average seasonal snowfall of 18 inches.
While spring doesn’t officially arrive until late March, February does start to warm things up for us. Average daily high temperatures improve from 40 on the 1st to 50 on the 29th. Overnight lows slowly start to warm improving from 19 degrees at the start of the month to 26 degrees by month’s end. Average snowfall for February is 4.7 inches with average liquid precipitation of 1.10 inches. February is our second driest month, right behind January.-
Was January Cloudier Than Normal? Many local residents expressed a feeling that January was a dreary gray month without a lot of sunshine. It’s difficult to express what is a normal amount of cloudiness, or sunshine, for any month. We can, however, look at light intensity maximums day by day, as well as ultraviolet indexes. Sunlight intensity is measured in lumens, or lux, and ultraviolet intensity on a scale from 0 to 10. A bright cloudless summer day will often have intensity in excess of 100,000 lux and an ultraviolet index of 10. With the sun lower in the sky in the winter, a sunny day is more likely to have sunlight intensity of around 65,000 lux and ultraviolet intensity of only 6, although a truly bright sunny day may reach 100,000 lux and an ultraviolet index of 8. Looking at the daily maximum for sunlight intensity we find that there were only 6 days with intensities over 60,000 lux. Conversely we find 12 days had a sunlight intensity of under 30,000 lux. These days would be considered very gray and dreary. The other 13 days of January had moderate intensities indicating some cloud cover. While statistically, this data can get very “messy”, it is enough to confirm that yes, January was a rather dreary gray month!
Chuck Otte [email protected]
County Extension Agent, Retired