Ottawa Blizzard Posted January 28, 2012 Share Posted January 28, 2012 This winter has been a bust in Toronto thus far, no doubt about it. This January has been a torch. However, many in the media would be surprised to learn just when our warmest Januaries of the past century were. I should point out here that prior to 1937, the data is from downtown Toronto, which would obviously be warmer that the suburban airport. However, it would make sense that temperature means have been warming at Toronto's pearson airport given the city has encroached on it and cities create their own heat. Back in the 40s and 50s, it was out in the countryside. year: mean temperature snowfall 1) January 1932 1.9C 38.8cm 2) January 1933 0.9C 5.3cm 3) January 2006 0.2C 7.8cm 4) January 1913 -0.3C 29.5cm 5) January 1937/2002 -0.5C 6.3cm (1937) 31.4cm(2002) 6) January 1906 -0.6C 10.9cm 7) January 1990 -0.8C 12.8cm 8) January 1916 -1.0C 8.1cm 9) January 1950 -1.8C 36.7cm 10) January 1894/2008 - 2.1C 18.0cm (1894) 22.8cm (2008) It should be noted that January 1988 only saw 4.8cm of snow fall at Toronto's perason airport, meaning this January will not be the airport's least snowy. It's intriguing to see so many warm winters a century ago when old photographs wouldseem to imply that there was more skating on rivers and ponds back then. Many in Toronto say you could skae to Toronto island at one point from the mainland. Wouldn't have wanted to try that during some of the above Januaries! Finally, it's astounding how the two warmest Januaries were back-to back. People back then must have wondered what had happened to winter...sort of like people this year! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
michsnowfreak Posted January 28, 2012 Share Posted January 28, 2012 Whats funny is that as craptastic as this winter has been, January will not even make the top 20 warmest January list at Detroit. #20 warmest is 30.3F in 1913, and DTW currently is at 30.3F though based on the forecast that will go down by the 31st. Also with 7.4" of snow and snow in the forecast both tomorrow and Sunday, snowfall may end up just a tad below normal. Just goes to show once again, stats do NOT tell the whole story. Hell, imby Im at 8.6" on the month with a very realistic shot to hit 10" for the monthly total. Detroits top 10 warmest Januaries 01) 36.7F - 1880 02) 36.7F - 1932 03) 35.3F - 2006 04) 34.7F - 1933 05) 33.6F - 1890 06) 33.6F - 1906 07) 33.5F - 1990 08) 32.8F - 1989 09) 32.8F - 1998 10) 32.7F - 2002 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wxnut Posted January 28, 2012 Share Posted January 28, 2012 Here in Winnipeg, Manitoba.. January is on pace to be the 3rd or possibly 2nd warmest January since records began in 1873. Top 5 warmest Januarys in Winnipeg.. 1. 2006..... - 7.4C 2. 1944..... -10.6C 3. 1942..... -11.4C 4. 1992..... -11.5C 5. 1990..... -11.6C As of the 26th, Winnipeg's January monthly mean is -11.0C. Based on the temperature forecast over the next 4 days, we could finish with an average around -10.5C, which would just edge 1944 as the 2nd warmest January on record. Other than a brief cold snap from the 16th - 21st, we've been above normal nearly every day this month. This is on top of a December that was 6C above normal (9th warmest ever) January will also be our 7th consecutive month above normal. It's been quite the ride! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
daddylonglegs Posted January 28, 2012 Share Posted January 28, 2012 Not seeing much in the way of 1980's, 70's, or 60's...sure seems like warm Januaries come in streaks ...7 out of the 10 warmest happened before 1945 in LSE. La Crosse: 1. 32.0 1880 2. 31.1 2006 3. 28.6 1933 4. 28.3 1944 5. 28.0 1990 6. 27.9 2002 7. 27.1 1878 8. 26.4 1931 9. 25.5 1914 10. 25.1 1921 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chicago WX Posted January 28, 2012 Share Posted January 28, 2012 Top 10 warmest Januaries for Chicago and Indianapolis (and January 2012 through yesterday). No surprise, there are quite a few shared years between the two. #1 for Indy is quite amazing really, 5.2 degrees warmer than #2. Chicago (29.4 through yesterday for Jan 2012) 39.8...1880 36.7...1933 35.8...2006 33.9...1990 33.6...1932 32.8...1876 32.6...1906 32.5...1914 32.4...1989 32.4...1921 Indianapolis (32.7 through yesterday for Jan 2012) 45.0...1880 39.8...2006 39.2...1933 38.4...1932 38.4...1876 37.4...1950 37.4...1890 37.3...1990 36.6...1998 36.3...1989 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ottawa Blizzard Posted January 28, 2012 Author Share Posted January 28, 2012 Not seeing much in the way of 1980's, 70's, or 60's...sure seems like warm Januaries come in streaks ...7 out of the 10 warmest happened before 1945 in LSE. La Crosse: 1. 32.0 1880 2. 31.1 2006 3. 28.6 1933 4. 28.3 1944 5. 28.0 1990 6. 27.9 2002 7. 27.1 1878 8. 26.4 1931 9. 25.5 1914 10. 25.1 1921 That's what is really intriguing me. There seems to be a belief in the general public that the winters of our grandparent's youth were consistently frigid, yet the data does not seem to support that! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chicago WX Posted January 28, 2012 Share Posted January 28, 2012 Most of the 1930's Januaries were fairly warm and less snowy in Chicago...lake front site or not. For comparison's sake, the 1981-10 normals are 23.8/10.8". 1939 was a bit of an odd ball. A torch January (15th warmest), but the 8th snowiest all time. But it was aided by a last minute snowstorm on January 30th with 14.9" (4th snowiest calendar day in recorded history). 1930: 20.1/14.1" 1931: 32.0/2.1" 1932: 33.6/1.9" 1933: 36.7/0.9" 1934: 32.3/0.3" 1935: 25.7/6.0" 1936: 19.0/11.6" 1937: 26.9/2.4" 1938: 25.4/6.3" 1939: 31.6/24.7" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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