TheClimateChanger

Snowbirdbob confirms:

UAH TLT data was released this morning. Globally, the anomaly came in at 0.35C, up 0.05C from December. For the CONUS, January 2026 averaged 0.30C above the 1991-2020 mean. The CONUS winter season to date (December & January) is currently the warmest on record (since 1978-79) in the satellite-based dataset, and by a very significant margin over No. 2. The two month average is +1.20C for the CONUS, while the prior record for December & January was set in 2021-22 at +0.91C. Very likely that this will be the warmest winter on record in the CONUS in the UAH TLT data.

I wonder if everyone's thermometers are being impacted by reflected sunlight from the snow? The commercially available ones are generally shielded from above, so reflected light from below could raise them?

Interesting. Looking at everybody's temperature reports, it seems the airport temperatures are usually cooler. But one would think it would be the other way around with all the asphalt?

Very impressive. Do you think this will be the coldest outbreak of the 21st century in Florida?

You can really see how that California tule fog or whatever they were calling it screwed us out of an even warmer December & January.

An impressive 43.2F diurnal range there so far. Can definitely see the effects of that higher sun angle, even with the snow cover. From -14.8F -> 28.4F.

@donsutherland1, what do you think of this projection? When I see a week-long, ensemble average showing an areal anomaly of +3.66F over that big of an area - keep in mind, it's not averaging just the CONUS, but that entire map inset - that looks significant to me. Like possible record-breaking warmth in places.

Some light at the end of the tunnel, especially for our western friends.

Wow! Those were legitimate cold months. Surprised 2015 isn't on that short list as well!

PRISM has the winter to date around +2.16F. But I know from Ben Noll that this was the 5th warmest since 1981 on PRISM, so it must have 2015-2016 a little cooler than NOAA. We'll have to wait another week or so for the official numbers.

Looks like January came in around +0.82F on PRISM's dataset. That will snap our streak of 4 consecutive Top 10 warm months for the CONUS - last 2 being Top 5.

Quite a wide variance in temperature on the car thermometer this morning. Saw as low as -8F at one point. Zelienople Airport had a low of about -15F. National Weather Service

Looks like Louisville is leading the charge, with the most snow to date since 1994 - which is the only winter with more since 1978.

What an incredible winter so far. It may be a LONG time before we see another winter off to such a fast start. I was looking at some numbers... Columbus and Dayton, Ohio have both registered more snow through today's date than every other winter since 1996, except for 2014. And at Dayton, only two winters since 1978 have seen more snowfall through today's date (1996 & 2014)! Not as impressive, but still noteworthy, Cleveland and Detroit have recorded more snowfall through today's date than every winter since 2006, with the exception of 2009 & 2014.

With this most recent storm, Columbus has now recorded more snow through today's date than every winter since 1996, except for 2014! We literally may never see another winter like this in our lifetime. Note rankings below are for the airport site only.

That's the jackpot. You can get snow effect snow from any wind direction.

Lol, I saw that and it makes zero sense. There is in fact snow cover over eastern Kentucky and West Virginia - that's typical upslope snow from there south into E TN/ W NC. The satellite imagery isn't blue there, because there's overcast skies. If anything, it looks like the snow cover is suppressing clouds. Maybe the differential heating is contributing to the cumulus buildup south of the snowpack, but that's not the same process as lake effect snow. The flurries on radar earlier are clearly from a weak "disturbance" that moved in from Arkansas.

Not sure about that. I think the official numbers come from the ASOS, except for snowfall. Although they could be adjusted perhaps if there's an undercount? I know Denver used to measure snowfall at the former Stapleton Airport, even though official records were taken at DIA so there could be fairly large discontinuity between the precipitation and snowfall.