January is almost consistently our coldest month in the Valley. And more often than not, the second half of the month is particularly cold. Last January, for example, brought nighttime lows below-zero locally and daytime highs in the mid-teens. Luckily, that stretch of really cold weather only lasted a couple of days.
Nothing of the sort for this year, though. Temperatures through January were consistently above average for the most part. There were only 6 days this January when the average temperature fell below normal and we had no days this year with temperatures at zero or below.
We’re not alone. Just about every location east of the Mississippi saw temperatures well above average in January.
This January will likely go in the books as the warmest January in modern times and one of the top-five since records began in New Philadelphia in 1948. I’ll have a full recap of January’s weather out over the weekend.
Locally, it’s been consistently cloudy and temperatures have held fairly steady at around average since last Saturday. There does not appear to be much of a change in this pattern as we head into the weekend. Friday will bring a slight warm-up where our afternoon temperatures get to around 40° or so, but the potential for any significant sunshine looks fairly weak. Of course, at this point, even a little peek of sunshine now and then would certainly be nice.
Saturday, we will be between a trough of low pressure and precipitation to our south. The heaviest precipitation should stay to our south but the system could graze us just enough to bring stray rain and snow showers to the Valley. Odds of any light rain/drizzle will be higher in the afternoon and evening. Anything that develops and sticks around after sunset can change over to snow. At most, I wouldn’t expect anything more than a dusting – if that.
A wind shift from the southwest on Sunday will initiate a warming trend on Sunday. It will also break up the cloudy and overcast pattern we’ve been suffering through this week. While we probably won’t see steady sunshine, we will start to see some clearing in the afternoon. Temperatures will warm to mid-40-ish.
MONDAY THROUGH WEDNESDAY
Increasing southerly flow will push temperatures well into the 50s on Monday under building high pressure. But, chances for rain will return Monday night with low pressure approaching from the Central US. Chances for precipitation will return Monday night and Tuesday as the low moves across the Great Lakes. Eventually, the system’s cold front will bring cooler temperatures back to the area for Wednesday.
