January 2012 ends as the 3rd warmest on record!

It has been a warm and very dry one one here in Winnipeg and across Manitoba this January, even though La Nina is still going full power, a strong Jet Stream is aiding and keeping the flow of warm air into our province.

So how did we fare? Well we came in as the third warmest January on record with an average daily high temperature of about -6C, while the actual average high temperature for January is about -13C. The beginning of January did feature a great start with warm weather from the 1st all the way through to the 13th, followed by a brief cold spell with another warm spell before we got hit by a huge blast of arctic air from the 16th to the 21st. Temperatures in this period were in between -15C and -24C.The month of January ended with warm weather and some record breaking temperatures, which continued through to the beginning of February. As for snowfall totals the highest we received last month was only about 10cm on the 5th when a quick system brushed by us. On average we were well below normal in getting precipitation, that trend looks to continue.

It has been another story up in Alaska where temperatures in some places have dipped well below -50C in some cases -60C windchills.