Did this January seem a little drier, sort of like a drought?
This January, as the automated weather station photo shows, was a little more like a traditional Berkshire January, with a coating of snow. But the snow contained little moisture making it easy to clear away, sometimes just sweeping it. Dry snow doesn’t leave a lot of water content and it’s that moisture that is most important to the state hydrologist, who observes water levels of the rivers and streams to warn of potential flooding. So a dry January with no big storms.
Thanks to the jet stream most of the winter storms passed by to our south. My sister in Delaware picked up a foot of snow in a coastal storm that missed New England and who could forget the five to eight inches of snow and extreme cold that forced the Gulf to hunker down for several days. By-the-way, that storm reformed out in the Atlantic and headed east and struck the British Isles with hurricane force winds. For us it was the northern jet shifting south and bringing in clipper-like systems with a northwest flow over the Great Lakes and creating strong winds and snow flurries and squalls with up and down temperatures.
Overall, the month was the 13th snowiest and 8th coldest and as the 21st century chart shows, just below average with much lower melted precipitation. In other words, dry and easier to shovel snow and less rain.
Now, it’s February and there are questions: Will the fluffy snow pattern continue? One question was answered Sunday morning at 7:15 when Phil saw his shadow, forecasting 6 more weeks of winter. And with all the seed catalogs in my mail basket, how are we planning the garden come spring? And what to get sweetie for Valentine’s day. Things to think about.
Have a wonderful month.
January 2025 weather statistics
