The weather for January can be summed up in three words: warm, wet, and
snow-less. Well, nearly snow-less to be precise. January is normally our
coldest and driest month of the year. We apparently missed on both of those!
The month continued a trend that has been ongoing for several years of
above normal average temperatures. The area was blessed with above
average precipitation for the month, with most of it fortunately being rain, not
ice and freezing rain!

The average daily high during January was 44.5, 5.0 degrees above normal.
The average overnight low was 26.3, 8.0 degrees above normal. This gave
us a monthly mean temperature of 35.4, 6.5 degrees above normal. This
puts January 2017 in the books as the 6th warmest January on record. The
warmest January was in 2006 when we had a monthly mean temperature of
43.9. The coldest January on record was in 1979 when we had a quite chilly
12.1 degree monthly mean temperature. The highest temperature during the
month was the high of 67 on the 24th. The coldest temperature was the -1
reading the morning of January 5th. There were several temperature records
set or tied during the month, all of them being new record high low
temperatures. The low of 42 on the 18th broke the old record high low of 37
set in 1973 and 2013; likewise the low of 43 on the 19th broke the old record
of 42 set in 1952. The low of 40 on the 23rd broke the old record of 37 set in
1994 and the low of 36 on the 31st tied the old record first set in 1987.

January is normally our driest month and along with February our snowiest
month. Average precipitation for January is only 0.65 inches and snowfall is
4.7 inches. Milford Lake received 1.57″ of precipitation in January and
Junction City received 1.56″. The driest January on record was in 1986 when
no precipitation fell. The wettest January was in 1949 when 4.28 inches was
recorded. Snowfall in January totaled 1.5 inches, well below that 4.7 inch
average. For the season to date we would expect an average of 9.4 inches,
through the end of January, and so far this snowfall season we are up to a
mere 2.5 inches of snowfall. The snowiest January was also the coldest,
1979, when nearly 19 inches of snow was recorded in Manhattan (closest
official snowfall recording station at that time.)

February can be cold, but we expect to start to see winter start to lose it´s
grip. Average daily highs start the month at 39 and by the end of the month
are up to 50. Overnight lows start the month around 17 and by the end of the
month are expected to be about 26. Average February precipitation is up
from January at 1.12 inches and average snowfall is 4.7 inches, tying it with
January for the snowiest month of the winter.

-Chuck Otte, Geary County Extension