January 2026 OBS and Discussion

[BoulderWX]

It’s snowed like five different days since mid-December and plenty of cold air around - IMO this winter is off to a great start. 

[bkviking]

Light snow sticking and blowing around -again - Lake Grove LI (at mall) 

[NorthShoreWx]

26 minutes ago, bkviking said:

Light snow sticking and blowing around -again - Lake Grove LI (at mall) 

Same here.  Was that you on mping near that same location?

[Volcanic Winter]

54 minutes ago, BoulderWX said:

It’s snowed like five different days since mid-December and plenty of cold air around - IMO this winter is off to a great start. 

I’d have to agree, having appreciable cold throughout Dec with multiple snow events for the entire north / south extant of the inner and suburban metro is beyond a doubt fantastic. I think I saw some of our Orange county area posters have well into double digit snows (or was it 20+?), LI did well I think, and down here at the ass end I have nearly 10 inches to kick off winter.  

Short of the big KU event Decembers like 09, 10, and was it 20? - Really have to take your chips and go on this one.
 

January might go bad, or it might perk up toward the back nine - we’ll find out. Then we have another month+ to get our act together, and given the stats on December snow I’ll place my bets this doesn’t rat to close out.  I’m thinking good Dec, solid in summation will probably be the tenor come the end of March. And that’s fine in the face of multiple horrid winters this decade. 

My Dec average was 33.2 with a low max of 10.2. 

[MJO812]

Flurries here

[donsutherland1]

The weekend looks to be mainly dry with colder than normal temperatures. A few flurries are possible in parts of the region early Sunday.

The first week of January could have a mean temperature below 30° in New York City. If that happends, it would be the coldest opening week of January since 2018. The only years since 2000 with a sub-30° mean temperature for the opening week of January were 2001, 2010, 2014 and 2018.

Milder weather will likely develop on or around January 7th. The milder period appears likely to last for about a week, but there is some uncertainty about its duration. Afterward, conditions could become more favorable for both cold and snowfall, especially if the PNA goes positive.

The ENSO Region 1+2 anomaly was -0.3°C and the Region 3.4 anomaly was -0.7°C for the week centered around December 24. For the past six weeks, the ENSO Region 1+2 anomaly has averaged -0.33°C and the ENSO Region 3.4 anomaly has averaged -0.68°C. La Niña conditions will likely continue into at least late winter.

The SOI was +9.29 today. 

The preliminary Arctic Oscillation (AO) was -1.828 today. 

 

[Stormlover74]

Moon over snow squall clouds