The great January thaw
After two weeks of unrelenting Arctic cold and wind, Southwestern Pennsylvania is being treated to a January thaw, which brought milder air into the region and even some rain to wash away some of the old snow and dirt from our cars and streets. These January thaws are not unusual and happen almost every year.
They usually occur later in the month and always follow a period of intense bitter Arctic cold. Since it is January, it is a nice respite from the cold and snow, and the thawing weather gives us a chance to regroup and prepare for more winter weather that is surely to follow.
Looking ahead, more cold weather is back in the forecast for this weekend and into next week, but the weather pattern that is developing does tend to favor more mild air and perhaps another January thaw. Upper level winds look to turn more westerly for the later part of the month and this will favor temperatures more on average for this time of the year. The westerly winds keep the cold air locked up in Alaska and Canada and favor us with milder weather, but with a fair amount of precipitation.
Looking at past winters, one only has to go back to last year when mild air covered much of the United States with temperatures well above normal. The January thaw last year persisted for most of the month and well into February. It kind of spoiled us into believing this was the new winter. Although, 1977 was the year with no January thaw and an average temperature of just 11.4 degrees, making it the coldest month on record.
Winter temperatures in our area average 30.6 degrees for the months of January, February and March. Last winter, we averaged 36.3 degrees and the winter before was 35. The warmest was 1889-90 with and average of 43 degrees and on Jan. 25, 1950, the area experienced a summer like temperature of 79 degrees.
Looking at our snowfall, for the season we average 41.4 inches in the lower elevations and 88 inches in the mountains. In the 1918-19 winter, the area measured only 8.8 inches for the entire season and in the winter season of 1950-51 the total was 82.0 inches. January 1932 and 1950 saw no measurable snowfall the entire month of January.
Remember climate is what we expect and weather is what we get.