Average US temperature for January ‘normal’ despite winter storms

For those who shivered through January, this may be hard to believe: Nationwide, the average temperature for the month was about normal because a warm west offset a cool east…And even though it seemed like it snowed a lot in the east, the snow on the ground in January in the lower 48 was the 16th smallest in 48 years of record-keeping by the Rutgers University Global Snow Lab. Snow cover was above average in the Northern Plains, midwest and northeast but below average in the Rockies and the west…That’s because starting in January and stretching through early February, the jet stream plunged due south in an unusual and persistent pattern that brought bone-cold temperatures to the east of the big dip and dry warm weather to the west of the plunge, said Rutgers University climate scientist Jennifer Francis.