February is starting much the same way that January ended. Yesterday's record high temperature of 54 degrees broke the previous mark of 53, which was established in 1974. Today's record high of 57, set in 1989, is also in jeopardy of being broken. The official weather data has been tabulated for January and, not surprisingly, the month was much warmer than normal.
The average temperature last month was 35.7 degrees, which is a whopping 5.6 degrees above normal. However, it was more than a degree colder than the warmest January on record (37.1 degrees) in 1950. The warmest temperature was 55 degrees on February 7 and 27, while the coldest temperature was 12 degrees on February 4 and 16.
Twenty-four of the days last month featured average daily temperatures above normal, including 13 days when the average was 10 degrees or more above normal. The last nine days of the month were warmer than normal. The only cold stretch last month happened between January 15 and 22 when five of the days were colder than normal.
Nearly three inches (2.98") of liquid precipitation fell last month, which is just below the 3.10" normal for January. Over a half-foot (7.4") of snow fell last month, with most of that happening during the Saturday, January 21 storm which brought 6.2" to the region. There were 12 days with at least one-hundredth of an inch of precipitation; eight days with at least a tenth of an inch; and 1 day with more than a half-inch.
Now, we'll eagerly await the groundhog's prediction tomorrow morning. The Vernal Equinox, or the first day of Spring, is exactly seven weeks from today. However, according to legend, if the groundhog sees his shadow, Spring can't be too far off. Based on our weather today, it looks as though Spring has arrived a month-and-a-half early.
Paul
