Warm January Nationally And Locally

Data released from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) shows that January of 2012 was the fourth-hottest January on record, and was also unusually dry, according to a release from the AccuWeather.com website.

While temperatures were high across the country, in Southern California temperatures were also warm for January, but not unusually so, according to JPL forecaster Bill Patzert.

The average Southern California January temperature was about one degree higher than normal for the month, he said.

That might not square with how people recall the month: columnist Karin Bugge, for example, about her increased exercise coming from a string of warm days.

That perception might come because January did have a big string of very warm days in a row at the beginning of the month and again at the end, Patzert said. Those days were balanced somewhat by a cold snap in the middle of the month.

Additionally, Patzert noted, the last two Januarys have been cooler than normal, which might have led to some expectations of a colder winter this year.

Overall there were 20 days above average, 9 days below average, and two days exactly average, according to data from the accuweather.com site.

What was unusual about the local January weather was the almost total absence of rain, Patzert said.  At JPL, rainfall totals were 1.42 inches, compared to an average of more than three that the area usually sees in January.

The whole rainfall year (which meterologists count as September to August) has also been unusually dry, with about 60 percent of normal rainfall.  That was not entirely unexpected, as La Niña  conditions in the Pacific Ocean have been observed this winter.  La Niña is a drop in the normal surface temperatures of the Pacific Ocean which generally results in drier weather in Southern California.

Nationally, the country has seen a lot of sunshine very little snowfall: Dr. Jeff Masters, a meteorologist and blogger at Weather Underground, has pointed out that a NASA photo taken in early January incredibly shows the entire continental U.S. with no cloud cover and almost no snow accumulation in the mountains.

Patzert said that forecasts call for some cold weather and winter storms in the midwest and East Coast, but immediate forecasts for Southern California do not include stormy weather on the horizon.  Altadena's 10-day forecast does not include any rain, though it is forecast to get significantly cooler starting Saturday.