January 2026 OBS and Discussion

[psv88]

1.3….lets goooo

[CPcantmeasuresnow]

1.8 above.

Not gonna get anywhere near -10 at this rate. 

[Rjay]

2 (winds haven't gone calm here)

-6 at FOX (winds are calm)

[wishcast_hater]

NWS dropped the cold weather advisory for my area.


.

[WestBabylonWeather]

1.8 degrees. 

[Rwes1]

2° F this morning. Lowest of the year for me. 

[ForestHillWx]

-2/-8…. coldest morning of the winter. 

[sussexcountyobs]

+6F with very light snow falling. Light dusting on everything. 

[bluewave]

My first 0° since moving up here.

 

[IrishRob17]

9 hours ago, CPcantmeasuresnow said:

4.1* light breeze.

sub zero is a lock, if we stay clear and get winds to zero and we go -10. 
 

It wasn't a lock here and I can radiate pretty good, especially with snow on the ground, low of +1 (+.6). I've been dead calm since 3am, clouds must've messed it up. Meh for me when compared to earlier in the week. I did beat KMGJ which appears have only went to +2. 

[bluewave]

A top 5 coldest January 24th to 30th across the area and much of the Central to Eastern CONUS.

Time Series Summary for NY CITY CENTRAL PARK, NY Coldest January 24th to 30th 
Click column heading to sort ascending, click again to sort descending.

1	1935-01-30	15.0	0
2	1888-01-30	15.6	0
3	1936-01-30	15.9	0
4	2026-01-30	16.9	0
5	1961-01-30	17.4	0
6	1873-01-30	18.4	0
7	1897-01-30	18.5	0
8	1948-01-30	18.8	0
9	1881-01-30	19.2	0
10	2004-01-30	19.4	0

[NorthShoreWx]

Bottomed at 7.9 around 1am and since then have been hovering around 11 - 12⁰.

North shore close to the sound is the warmest part of the island this morning.  Plenty of 0's elsewhere.

[SnoSki14]

8 minutes ago, bluewave said:

A top 5 coldest January 24th to 30th across the area and much of the Central to Eastern CONUS.

Time Series Summary for NY CITY CENTRAL PARK, NY Coldest January 24th to 30th 
Click column heading to sort ascending, click again to sort descending.

1	1935-01-30	15.0	0
2	1888-01-30	15.6	0
3	1936-01-30	15.9	0
4	2026-01-30	16.9	0
5	1961-01-30	17.4	0
6	1873-01-30	18.4	0
7	1897-01-30	18.5	0
8	1948-01-30	18.8	0
9	1881-01-30	19.2	0
10	2004-01-30	19.4	0

I shudder to think what'll happen once the pendulum swings, hopefully it's not in the summer. 

[MJO812]

I thought we had a chance to get to lower single digits. 10 again.

[TJW014]

Radiational cooling did its job last night. Starting the day at -7 this morning. 

Off to get the DN and Skeeter ice boats ready for this afternoon

[SACRUS]

 

Down to 3 here  7 / -4 currently.   Cold overall with brief moderation to or abover freezing in areas Mon - Tue - Wed.   Clippers bring reinforcing cold shots and potential light snow later Wed - Thu morning , Fri - Sat.  Some show clipper deepening once off the cost Saturday which could enhance snows in LI/SNE (well see). 

1/31 - 2/1 :  Stong cold much below avg
2/2 - 2/4 :  Below normal but may crack freezing or mid 30s in areas 
2/5 - 2/ 7 : Colder / clipper - potential light snow, Watch for enhanced snows Fri night / Sat eastern areas
2/8 - 2/13 :  Cold overall - long range storm risk 2/11 - 2/13 timeframe
2/14 - Beyond : overall cold / Below normal 

 

[bluewave]

My friend took a photo of the frozen Great South Bay yesterday just before landing.
 

[TWCCraig]

+3.5°F for the low here. Looks like -2°F at Shirely and -9°F at Westhampton for lows.

-8°F in Toms River

-9°F in Somerville

-11°F in Morristown

Unofficial numbers though

[SACRUS]

Records:

 

Highs:

EWR: 64 (1947)
NYC: 63 (1947)
LGA: 61 (1974)
JFK: 58 (1974)

Lows:

EWR: 1 (1948)
NYC: -1 (1920)
LGA: 2 (1948)
JFK: 3 (2019)

Historical:

1888: A snowy January left 54 inches of snow on the ground in the lower elevations of Northfield, VT. (Ref. Wilson Wx. History)

1893: The temperature dropped 40 degrees in five hours during a blizzard at Park Rapids, MN. (Ref. AccWeather Weather History)

1905: The minimum temperature for the date is -2°F. in Washington, DC. (Washington Weather Records - KDCA)

1911 - Tamarack, CA, was without snow the first eight days of the month, but by the end of January had been buried under 390 inches of snow, a record monthly total for the U.S. (The Weather Channel)


1916: The maximum temperature for the date in Washington, DC is 71 °F. (Washington Weather Records - KDCA)


1918: January 1918 is the all time coldest month on record in Washington with an average temperature of 23.6 degrees Fahrenheit. January 1940 the average temperature was 24.9 degrees Fahrenheit .  January 1977 the average temperature was 25.4 degrees Fahrenheit, which made it Washington's coldest month since 1940. (Ref. Washington Weather Records) The maximum snowfall total for any month in Richmond is January 1940 with a total of 28.5 inches. (Ref. Richmond Weather Records)

1920: Northfield, Vermont: The highest barometric pressure observed in the contiguous forty-eight states: 31.14 inches mercury. The cold high pressure would be followed by a major winter storm just three days later that paralyzed the region. (Ref. Wx.Doctor)(Ref. Wilson Wx. History) (Ref. US Barometer Records by State)

1934: New Hampshire lowest temperature was set on Mt. Washington, NH at -47 °F today. (Extreme Weather p. 54, by Christopher C. Burt)

1936: The village of Amenia, also in North Dakota, registered a maximum temperature of only 10°F for the entire month of January, perhaps the lowest MONTHLY maximum temperature ever measured in the lower 48 states. (Extreme Weather p. 64, by Christopher C. Burt)

1937: A major Oregon snowstorm dumped 25 inches of snow at Salem, OR and 16 inches at Portland, OR. (Ref. AccWeather Weather History)


 

1949 - The temperature at San Antonio, TX, plunged to a record low of one degree below zero. Helena MT reached 42 degrees below zero. (David Ludlum)

 

1950: Seattle, Washington experienced their coldest temperature on record with a reading of zero degrees.

1957: A freight train was trapped by near record snow in Colorado's Cumbres Pass. Subsequent work and rescue trains were trapped by avalanches approximately 60 crew were involved. Heavy snows, high winds, ground blizzards hurt rescue efforts by Army snow weasels and helicopters. (Ref. Weather Guide Calendar with Phenomenal Weather Events 2012 Accord Pub. 2011, USA)

1966 - A blizzard struck the northeastern U.S. When the storm came to an end, twenty inches of snow covered the ground at Washington D.C. (David Ludlum)


1966: A blizzard struck the northeastern U.S. When the storm came to an end, twenty inches of snow covered the ground at Washington, DC. (David Ludlum, p. 10)  Behind the storm and cold front, arctic high pressure brought extreme record cold from the Tennessee Valley, Mid-Atlantic to Florida. Chattanooga, TN tied their all-time record low with -10°. Locations that reported daily record lows included: Bristol, TN: -15°, Knoxville, TN: -7°, Oak Ridge, TN: -7°, Nashville, TN: -2°, Asheville, NC: 1°, Greensboro, NC: 3°, Raleigh, NC: 3°, Charlotte, NC: 4°, Roanoke, VA: 4°, Baltimore, MD: 4°-Tied , Lynchburg, VA: 5°-Tied, Columbia, SC: 10°, Norfolk, VA: 10°, Charleston, SC: 15°, Savannah, GA: 16°, Wilmington, NC: 17°-Tied, Jacksonville, FL: 20°, West Palm Beach, FL: 32°, Miami, FL: 35° and Key West, FL: 47 °F. (Ref. Wilson - Additional Temperatures Listed On This Link)
Virginia Winter Weather Summary • Roanoke Winter Statistics Snowiest Month = 41.2 inches in Jan. 1966 Average Snowfall = 22.9 inches. (Ref. Virginia Wx. History)

1977: Very cold Jan mean temperature of 25.4° a -10.2° departure coldest since 1940- Two very strong cold fronts during the month. January 1977: The Bicentennial Winter was the coldest seen on the East Coast since before the founding of the republic. In Northern Virginia, the snow began on January 4, just as the Carter Administration was moving into town. New storms dropped a few more inches every few days to put a fresh coating on the streets that were just clearing from the previous storm and give a clean look to the piles of dirty snow that were accumulating along roadways and in parking lots. The Tidal Potomac (salt water) froze solid enough that people could skate across it near the Memorial Bridge. The average temperature for the month of January in Washington was 25.4°F, which was the coldest since 1856 when the temperature averaged 21.4 °F. The normal January average temperature for Washington is 34.6°F (about 9° warmer). Roanoke averaged only 23.6°F, Richmond 25.3°F, and Norfolk 29.2°F (all 12° below normal). The prolonged cold wave caused oil and natural gas shortages. President Carter asked people to turn thermostats down to conserve energy. Washington did not see heavy snow like the Great Lake region did that winter. The cold winds blowing across the warm lakes brought 68 inches of snow to Buffalo, NY. Washington recorded 10 inches of snow in January, Richmond 11 inches, and Roanoke only 9 inches. Little to none fell the rest of the winter ending it well below normal. The cold wave penetrated into the South and on January 19, snowflakes were seen in Miami, Florida!(Ref. Virginia Wx. History) (Ref. Wilson Wx. History)

 

1979: A winter storm that started on the previous day and ended on this day spread 2 to 4 inches of rainfall in 24 hours over much of coastal Southern California and two inches of snow in Palm Springs. Snow fell heavily in Palm Springs, and 8 inches fell at Lancaster. All major interstates into Los Angeles were closed. Snow drifts shut down Interstate 10 on both sides of Palm Springs, isolating the city. 

1982 - A snowstorm struck Missouri, Illinois and Indiana. Twenty-five inches of snow at Greenville IL, located east of Saint Louis, paralyzed the community. The storm left 4000 motorists stranded for two days. (David Ludlum)

1987 - A storm in the Pacific Northwest produced wind gusts to 85 mph in Oregon, and nearly two inches of rain in twelve hours in the Puget Sound area of Washington State. Ten inches of snow at Stampede Pass WA brought their total snow cover to 84 inches. (National Weather Summary) (Storm Data)

1988 - Thirty-one cities in the central and northeastern U.S. reported new record high temperatures for the date, with many occurring during the early morning hours. Temperatures in western New York State reached the 60s early in the day. Strong northerly winds in the north central U.S. produced wind chill readings as cold as 60 degrees below zero in North Dakota. (National Weather Summary)

1989 - The barometric pressure at Norway, AK, reached 31.85 inches (1078.4 mb) establishing an all-time record for the North American Continent. The temperature at the time of the record was about 46 degrees below zero (The Weather Channel). Severe arctic cold began to invade the north central U.S. The temperature at Great Falls MT plunged 85 degrees in 36 hours. Valentine NE plummeted from a record high of 70 degrees to zero in just nine hours. Northwest winds gusted to 86 mph at Lander WY, and wind chill readings of 80 degrees below zero were reported in Montana. Sixty-four cities in the central U.S. reported record highs for the date as readings reached the 60s in Michigan and the 80s in Kansas. (National Weather Summary) (Storm Data)

1990 - High winds in Montana on the 28th, gusting to 77 mph at Judith Gap, were followed by three days of snow. Heavy snow fell over northwest Montana, with up to 24 inches reported in the mountains. An avalanche covered the road near Essex with six feet of snow. Snow and high winds also plagued parts of the southwestern U.S. Winds gusted to 54 mph at Show Low AZ, and Flagstaff AZ was blanketed with eight inches of snow. (National Weather Summary) (Storm Data)


1991: The month wrapped up as the wettest ever at Apalachicola, FL and Lake Charles LA with 20.80 and 14.29 inches of rain respectively. (Ref. AccWeather Weather History)

1994: It was the coldest month ever in Caribou, ME with an average temperature of -0.7°, breaking the old record of 1.3° set in January 1857. (Ref. AccWeather Weather History)

1995: All time monthly rain records in CA in January 1995. Gibraltar res. 34.80 inches, Santa Barbara 21.9 inches, Santa Maria 11.8 inches and Red Bluff 20.9 inches. (Bob Ryan's 2000 Almanac)

1996: Virginia Winter Weather Summary • Roanoke Winter Statistics - Greatest Snow = 22.2 inches in Jan. 1996 (Ref. Virginia Wx. History)

1997: Marquette, MI measured 91.7 inches of snow for the month, the city's greatest monthly snowfall on record. (Ref. Wilson Wx. History)

2004: Parish, New York: A three-day snowstorm (28th - 31st) dumps 86 inches of snow on Parish, located about 25 miles north of Syracuse. (Ref. Wx.Doctor)
 

[[email protected]]

Just keep building those 1,500 foot skyscrapers next to Central Park and ask why the park has a hard time going below 9-10 degrees. And don't forget what roll does the massive development of downtown Brooklyn, along with southeastern Queens over the last 10-years,have to do with the city not being able to get as cold, as it used to.

[Cfa]

35 minutes ago, NorthShoreWx said:

Bottomed at 7.9 around 1am and since then have been hovering around 11 - 12⁰.

North shore close to the sound is the warmest part of the island this morning.  Plenty of 0's elsewhere.

7.9 here as well, but around 6 AM.

[jm1220]

Looks like it got down to around 0 here or low single digits. 6 now. The city couldn't get below 10 because of the wind persisting and UHI. 

[Sampson]

4 degrees now. Not sure if that’s the low since 12am. Pretty freaking cold out there 

[bluewave]

6 minutes ago, [email protected] said:

Just keep building those 1,500 foot skyscrapers next to Central Park and ask why the park has a hard time going below 9-10 degrees. And don't forget what roll does the massive development of downtown Brooklyn, along with southeastern Queens over the last 10-years,have to do with the city not being able to get as cold, as it used to.

If we had a strong northerly cold air drain down the Hudson Valley like in early February 2023, then NYC wouldn’t have had any trouble getting to 0 to 5°. NYC has always needed the winds to stay up for their coldest readings. The winds were too light to transport the cold into the heat island areas this morning. 

[MJO812]

6 minutes ago, [email protected] said:

Just keep building those 1,500 foot skyscrapers next to Central Park and ask why the park has a hard time going below 9-10 degrees. And don't forget what roll does the massive development of downtown Brooklyn, along with southeastern Queens over the last 10-years,have to do with the city not being able to get as cold, as it used to.

We had a similiar cold break in 2013 and I went down to 0.

[Snowlover11]

Low of 3F.

[bluewave]

35 minutes ago, SnoSki14 said:

I shudder to think what'll happen once the pendulum swings, hopefully it's not in the summer. 

It’s very rare for us to get 3 or more cold months in a row here as has been the case since November. The last time this happened was January to March 2015. Let’s hope we don’t see a rebound like 2015 into 2016 again. 

[Cfa]

5F has been the new 0F for half of this subforum for quite awhile now.

[WestBabylonWeather]

Got down to 1.6

 

10 now

[[email protected]]

15 minutes ago, bluewave said:

It’s very rare for us to get 3 or more cold months in a row here as has been the case since November. The last time this happened was January to March 2015. Let’s hope we don’t see a rebound like 2015 into 2016 again. 

There's a chance that we will, since we are transitioning from an La Nina to El Nino just like 2015.