Europe, US have another warm winter

January was the third-warmest on record in Europe, according to Copernicus Climate Service of the European Union.

The month opened with some of Europe’s warmest winter weather on record. Central Europe was particularly warm, and parts of the Alps were snowless. By late January, temperatures returned closer to normal levels.

While it was mild in Europe, parts of Asia were abnormally cold.

Temperatures in Siberia dipped to minus 62C during the first half of January, the coldest in recent decades. Later in the month, China set a national record with a low of minus 53C in Mohe City.

Much of East Asia, including Japan, also experienced abnormally cold weather during the final week of January.

Typical January weather was nowhere to be found in much of the northeastern United States last month. In seven states, including the entirety of New England, it was the warmest January on record, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has reported.

The warmth in the Northeast helped to contribute to the sixthwarmest January on record for the Lower 48 states. The monthly average temperature of 1.8C was 9.2C above average.

Five of the six warmest Januaries on record in the contiguous US have occurred since 1990, and four since 2012.

A stormy weather pattern in California was another key player in the warm weather in the eastern US, as mild air drawn from the Pacific Ocean swept over most of the Lower 48. The onslaught of storms in California also helped the Lower 48 notch its third-wettest January on record. Thirty-five states saw aboveaverage precipitation.

The mild, wet pattern helped to fuel severe thunderstorms in the South and Southeast, leading to the third-most January tornadoes on record for the US.