Area’s trend of warmer January with less snow continues

January conjures images of cold and snow, but for the fourth time in five years, the area’s first two weeks of the new year are coming in unseasonably warm.

It’s more like spring “mud season” on hiking trails and in local backyards than it is a winter wonderland.

“We definitely have been breaking more temperatures records on the high side and having warmer months across the region than not over the last several years,” said John Franks, a meteorologist of the National Weather Service in Wilmington.

The forecast for the region calls for high temperatures ranging from 51 to 57 degrees today through Thursday. That’s on the heels of highs in the 50s and 60s Jan. 1-4.

The average temperatures for Jan. 11 are a high of 37 degrees and a low of 22. Instead, highs are expected near 51 degrees for today with an overnight low around 47 with a chance of rain beginning in the afternoon.

If the forecast holds, Dayton will go the first two weeks of January with no day going below 24 degrees. Early January 2022 was the outlier of recent years, with half of those days dipping into the teens. But every other year from 2019-23 has started warm.

In 2021, the first day to go below 20 degrees wasn’t until Jan. 22. In 2020, it took until Jan. 19 to get below 20. And in 2019, Dayton temperatures hit the teens for the first time Jan. 14.

Snow has been absent so far this January, and that’s been a trend the past few years as well.

Historically, the area gets 8.3 inches of snow each January, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association. Over the past three years, the month of January barely got past that number combined.

January of 2022 saw only 3.2 inches of snow, January 2021 had 6.6 inches, and the first month of 2020 didn’t even hit the first mark on the ruler, finishing at 0.9 inches.

Showers also are expected for Thursday, which again is expected to reach near 57 degrees. However, there is a chance of snow showers overnight when temperatures fall to a low around freezing, according to the NWS.

ANNA AZALLION / WCPO Cincinnati has a large historic building stock it is trying to bring back to life with affordable units throughout the city, Cincinnati city council member Liz Keating said.