Quick Facts:

	Ave	10Y	Low (Year)	High (Year)
HLA	50.53	50.19	46.69 (2011)	57.13 (2023)
Highs	79.44	80.10	72°F (2018)	86°F (2023)
Lows	23.00	21.40	12°F (2018)	36°F (2020)
Precip	2.41”	2.21”	0.07” (2018)	4.69” (2024)

 

January Temperatures

January’s 16-year temperature average is 50.53°F, more than three degrees cooler than February, making January the coldest month of the year (on average). It is not the coldest month every year — February was colder thrice (2010, 2021, and 2022) and December took the crown four times (2013, 2017, 2020, and 2023). (Also, twice when January was the coldest month of the year, it was actually warmer than the immediately preceding December: 2012 and 2014.)

January 2012 was the warmest January on record for this region, with a high-low average of 56.31°F, but that was surpassed in 2023, with 57.13°F. I don’t know when the coldest one was, but the coldest recent January was 2011, with an HLA of 46.69°F.

According to a variety of sources I searched, the coldest temperature ever recorded in January was 11°F, on Jan. 2, 1979, while the warmest temperature January has ever seen was 87°F, on both Jan. 3, 2006, and Jan. 19, 2000. During my 16-year record-keeping period (2010-25), the coldest January day was Jan. 17, 2018, when we saw 12°F, and the warmest was 86°F, on Jan. 11, 2023. Ten daily record lows were during the past 16 years, compared to 16 daily record highs during the same period.

January averages about six freezing days per year — days in which the low is 32°F or cooler — more than any other month. To my knowledge, 2020 was the first time in history in which January saw zero freezing days; the low for the entire months was 36°F. We seem to get fewer freezing days each year. The three year period of 2019-2021 saw fewer freezing days than any other two-year period.

 

Precipitation

Rainfall in January varies from 4.69 inches (2024) to 0.07 inches (2018), typically flipping back and forth from very wet to very dry each year, though 2019-2021 saw three consecutive above-average years. The 10-year average, 2010-19, is 2.21” of precipitation.

January averages 7.8 days per month that see precipitation, with a maximum of 13 days (2020) and a minimum of four (2014).

Trends And Patterns

January’s tempertures rise and fall in a regular pattern (two years above average and two years below average), as does the rainfall, but the two patterns do not seem related to each other.

About 2/3 of the time, January’s temperature is a good predictor for the rest of the year (if January is above average, then the year will be, and vice versa). Eleven of 15 times, January’s rainfall also predicted the yearly average.

One trend or pattern that I’ve noticed is that January’s temperature peaks are getting closer together. From the peak in 2012, it was five years to the next peak (2017), but then only three years to the next one (2020) and three years after that (2023) saw the warmest January on record. If this holds true, then 2026 will be another peak.

---

---