Ithaca Climate Summary for January 2005

Temperature

• With an average temperature of 20.1 degrees, the month averaged 2.5 degrees cooler than normal.
• The first fourteen days of the month averaged 11 degrees warmer than normal with each day averaging warmer than normal. The last 16 days of the month averaged 14 degrees colder than normal with each day colder than normal.
• This was the third consecutive January that was colder than normal and the fourth coldest in the last 20 years.
• There were 12 days that the temperature dropped below zero. This tied 1982 and 1970 as the most ever in the month of January. The most in any month was 13 in February 1979.
• The warmest temperature of the month was 63 degrees on the 13th and 14th.
• The coldest temperature of the month was -22 degrees on the 22nd. This was the coldest temperature observed since January 27, 1994.

Precipitation

• The January precipitation total was 4.28 inches, which was 202% of normal.
• This was the 5th most precipitation recorded during January in the last 127 years and the most since 1979.

Snowfall

• January snowfall was 37.2 inches, which was 19.3 inches above normal.
• This was the 3rd snowiest January since records began in 1879. The snowiest ever was January 1978 with 54 inches.
• This month more than made up for the Oct-Dec snowfall deficit. The season-to-date snowfall total is now 45.5 inches, which is 7.3 inches above normal.
• The most snow for a single day was 7.9 inches recorded on the morning of the 23rd.
• The maximum depth of snow on the ground was 17 inches - the most since March 2001.
• Elsewhere in the county, Groton reported 36 inches of snowfall.