Based on daily records going back to 1970, January 18 is the date most likely to have a low temperature in the single digits. It's happened nine times: in 1974 (6°); 1976 (6°); 1977 (2°); 1982 (0°); 1994 (4°); 1997 (7°); 2000 (3°); 2003 (7°); and 2005 (9°). A typical winter day has had one or two such frigid readings.
1974 (Friday)
Today was the coldest day of the winter, with a high/low of 23°/6° - seventeen degrees below average.
1981 (Sunday)
Today was the 20th day in a row with colder than average temperatures. The average high/low during this period was 28°/16°, eleven degrees below normal. Two-thirds of the days since Dec. 14 had high temperatures of 32° or colder.
1982 (Monday)
This was the coldest day of the winter, with a high of just 15°, after a frigid low 0° - twenty-four degrees colder than average. It was the second consecutive day with a low of zero degrees, but today won the crown for coldest day because its high temperature was four degrees colder than yesterday's.
1984 (Wednesday)
4.2" of snow fell, the second of three 4-inch+ snowfalls of the winter. Only two degrees separated today's high/low (31°/29°).
1986 (Saturday)
Today's high of 63° was the mildest reading of the month and occurred just three days after January's coldest reading (8°).
1998 (Sunday)
The 0.5" of snow that accumulated this morning was the first measurable snowfall of the winter, the latest first snow in twenty-five years. It was also the only snow to fall all month. When February saw no snow, this made Jan/Feb the least snowy on record (passing Jan/Feb 1919, which had 0.8").
2000 (Tuesday)
Not only was today the coldest day of the winter (high of 19°/low of 3°), it was also the coldest day in six years (based on mean temperature). This was the sixth winter to have its coldest mean temperature fall on this date, the most of any date. The other winters were: 1997 (17°/7°); 1982 (15°/0°); 1974 (23°/6°); 1938 (17°/6°); and 1921 (16°/6°).
2011 (Tuesday)
It was a sloppy day, as an inch of snow fell in the wee hours of the morning (when the temperature was in the mid-20s), changed to freezing rain around daybreak, and then to plain rain later on. Total precipitation for the day was 1.27", making this the sixth year in a row in which precipitation fell on this date.
2015 (Sunday)
An all-day deluge from a storm that hugged the coast dumped 2.10" of rain, a record for the date and the biggest January rainstorm since 1999. (Bigger January rainstorms would occur the following year, on 1/23, when 2.31" fell, and in 2017 when 2.34" fell on 1/23-24.)
2019 (Friday)
Although the half-inch of snow that fell before daybreak was of the "junk" variety (i.e., largely gone in my neighborhood by the time I left for work), it was the first measurable snow in Central Park in nine weeks - since the "surprise" snowstorm of November 15. Only the winter of 2011-12 had a longer gap between a winter's first and second snowfall (12 weeks).
2020 (Saturday)
One week after a record-setting high of 69° (and six days after a record high of 68°), today saw quintessentially wintry conditions, as a steady light snow fell during the afternoon, amounting to 2.1" (the first snowfall of two inches or more this winter). The temperature was in the 20s during the daytime hours but rose above freezing after 6 PM (peaking at 37° as midnight approached), changing the snow to sleet and then rain for a few hours. This was the last measurable snowfall of the winter, the earliest date on record (one day earlier than the previous latest date, in 2002).
2025 (Saturday)
Until today the only precipitation that had fallen this month was snow, but when 0.09" of rain fell this afternoon, it was the deepest into January for its first measurable rainfall since 1896 (when the month's first rain fell on 1/24).
No comments:
Post a Comment