NOAA Reports Record Warm Temps for January 2006

The United States had its warmest January on record, with an average temperature of 39.5 degrees F, the National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) reported today. This average is 8.5 degrees above the 1895-2005 mean of 31 degrees F, according to NOAA’s National Climatic Data Center in Asheville, N.C.

The jet stream remained unusually far to the north during January 2006, trapping cold air in Canada and Alaska, while allowing relatively warm Pacific air to influence the temperatures across the contiguous U.S. The jet stream is currently giving way to a more typical winter pattern, according to the NOAA Climate Prediction Center. The February outlook calls for below normal temperatures in the mid-Atlantic, the Southeast, and the inter-mountain West, and above-normal temperatures in the Southwest, the northern Plains and Alaska.

Throughout January 2006, none of the contiguous U.S. experienced below-average temperatures – each state was warmer than the long-term mean. Fifteen states in the northern Plains, Great Lakes and Midwest had record high temperatures for the month, with an additional 26 states having temperatures much above average. More than 74 percent of the country was classified as "much above normal" when compared to the 1961 – 1990 climate norm. The second warmest January on record was in 1953, which was 2.3 degrees F cooler than January 2006.

Regions of the country, such as the northern and central Plains that normally have some of the most severe winter temperatures, had temperatures more than 10 degrees F above their January averages. Bismarck, N.D., the Twin Cities (Minneapolis/St.Paul, Minn.) and Rochester, Minn., had temperatures more than 15 degrees F above their averages.  mean for cities such as Rochester and Minneapolis/St Paul, Minn., and Bismarck, N.D. For parts of the northern Plains, the record warm January also follows on the heels of a warm December 2005. North Dakota and Oklahoma both had record high temperatures for the last three months (November 2005-January 2006).

In many areas, temperatures were warmer in January than they were in December, by as much as 9 degrees F in some cases. In a normal winter, January is usually colder than December by 2.4 degrees F nationally. This winter, the U.S. temperature in January exceeded December by 6.1 degrees F.

However, north of the jet stream, temperatures across Alaska were much-below average. Fairbanks reached a minimum temperature of minus 51 degrees F Jan. 27, with a high of only minus 40 degrees F for that day. The last time the temperature in Fairbanks reached minus 50 degrees F, or below, was in December 1999. The normal minimum for Fairbanks in January is minus 19 degrees F and a normal high is zero degrees F. For the month, Fairbanks had a mean temperature 12.4 degrees F below normal.

The warm Pacific air also provided an ample source of moisture for parts of the U.S. during January. A fast-moving parade of storm systems from the Pacific led to 35 consecutive days of measurable rain for Olympia, Wash., breaking the previous record of 33 days set in 1953. More than 27 inches of rain fell from Dec. 19 - Jan. 18 in Astoria, Wash., establishing a new record for the wettest 31-day period for the city.

While rain and snow were abundant in the Pacific Northwest, areas of the southern Plains that have been suffering severe drought conditions since the spring of 2005, again received little of the needed rainfall last month. Wildfires that began in early winter in the southern Plains continued into January, with more than 330,000 acres being consumed in 2006 as of Jan. 31, according to the National Interagency Fire Center. The Southwest also was dry during January with Phoenix setting a new record – 104 consecutive days without rain.