January 2024 Weather Recap: A One-Week Taste of Winter
Historically, there has often been a period in late January referred to as the "January Thaw", when a brief respite from winter's cold took place. This year, however, New York experienced the reverse, as there was a "January Freeze" between January 15 and 21. The average high/low during this freeze was 30°/21°, with six of the seven days having a high of 32° or colder.
This period was seven degrees below average; meanwhile, the rest of the month was seven degrees above average. This produced a temperature for the entirety of the month that was 3.3 degrees above average, making January 2024 the 25th mildest January on record. While the month's average high was 2.5 degrees above average, the average low was 4.0 degrees above average (ranked by average low, January 2024 was 17th mildest).
During the January freeze, Central Park had the winter's first day with a high of 32° or colder, the second latest date for this occurrence (behind the winter of 1987).
Although it was on the mild side, this January was 6.5 degrees colder than last January (which was the mildest on record).
With 5.28" of precipitation, January 2024 was the wettest January of the century (and 21st among all Januarys). Two-thirds of its rain was from three storm systems: 1.95" on 1/9-10; 0.89" on 1/12-13, and 0.87" on 1/28-29. The rainfall on 1/9 was a record amount for the date.
Adding January's precipitation to that of December's 6.71" made this the wettest Dec/Jan combo since 1978-79, and the seventh wettest Dec/Jan on record (with an amount that was 50% above average).
(Note: If the chart above excluded precipitation that was snow, Dec/Jan of 2023-24's rank would rise to fifth, passing 1948-49 and 1977-78 (which had 27.1" and 20.7" of snow, respectively, while 2023/24 had just 2.3".
January's mildest reading was 60° (on 1/13), coldest was 17° (on 1/17). The Arctic high that delivered this frigid cold to the Rockies, Plains, Midwest, Great Lakes, and the South, gave New York just a glancing blow. Nine days had readings of ten degrees or more above average, two were ten or more below average.
The biggest snowfall was 1.7" on Jan. 15-16. The 0.2" of snow that fell on 1/6 was the first measurable snow this winter and one of the latest dates for the first such snowfall. In total, 2.3" of snow fell in January, which was the amount of snow that fell during the entirety of last winter.
Finally, the last nine days of the month were all overcast.
Here are recaps of weather in January from previous years:
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