A lack of snow and warmer than normal temperatures were the weather highlights of January.
Clinton area weather observer Jim Blaess says the overall temperature was about 27 (27.2) degrees. He says that’s nearly five degrees above the average of about 22 (22.4) degrees for the month.
The weather observer says that puts January 2017 as the 17th warmest January in records back to 1879.
The highest temperature during the month was 50 on the 21st.
There were three days with zero or below temperature and Blaess says the normal is five days. The coldest days were the 6th and 8th when it dropped to three below zero.
Blaess says the precipitation for January was 1.4 inches which is about a third-of-an-inch below normal of 1.45 inches.
During the month, Blaess says there was 8-tenths of an inch of snow compared to 9.4 inches of snow on average.
Blaess says that makes last month the 6th least snowiest January since the winter of 1887-1888.
January 1973 had the least amount of snow with a trace.
During the October thru January snow season to date, Blaess says there has been just over 15 inches (15.2) of snow with over 14 inches (14.4) of that total in December. The normal of that period is nearly 20 inches (19.8 of snow.
In February, Blaess says you can expect 7.6 inches of snow. He says there is typically three days of zero or below temperatures. Overall-the average temperature increases from a normal high of 32 and low of 15 on the first to averages of 41 and 23 by February 28th.
