Januarys warmth was unprecedented in much of the Northeast
Throughout much of the Northeast, January was hardly recognizable as temperatures soared to records amid little to no snow. In Philadelphia, New York, Boston and many other cities, temperatures were 8 to 11 degrees above normal — much more like March than midwinter.
Boston’s temperatures resembled a typical January in Washington, while Washington best matched Atlanta.
The extreme temperatures were reminiscent of some of the most abnormally warm months on record, including December 2015 and March 2012. Climate change is helping to fuel the warmth in these exceptional months, which have become more common in recent years.
January 2023, by the numbers
Most locations from the Carolinas to Maine recorded one of their top five warmest Januaries. In the following locations, average January temperatures set records:
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- Newark: 44 degrees (previous record: 42 degrees in 1932).
- New York: 43.5 degrees (previous: 43.2 degrees in 1932).
- Islip, N.Y.: 41.1 degrees (previous: 39.1 degrees in 1998).
- Bridgeport, Conn.: 39.9 degrees (previous: 36.9 degrees in 2017).
- Worcester, Mass.: 34.7 degrees (previous: 34.6 degrees in 1913).
- Montpelier, Vt.: 29.1 degrees (previous: 27.3 degrees in 1990).
A number of other locations had their second-warmest January, including Atlantic City; Philadelphia; Binghamton, N.Y.; State College, Pa.; and Detroit. Boston; Providence, R.I.; Hartford, Conn.; Baltimore; Washington; Norfolk; and Richmond posted one of their top five warmest Januaries.
In New York and Philadelphia, temperatures were above the norm every day in January, amid streaks of 35 straight above-average days.
The lowest temperatures of the month were hardly cold. In New York, the low of 28 degrees was the warmest on record, topping 25 degrees in 1937. A typical January might see the mercury fall to 10 degrees.
Philadelphia also fell only to 28 degrees, similarly topping the previous warmest low of 25 degrees from 1937.
Boston managed to dip only to 23 degrees, surpassing 2002’s record-warm low of 22 degrees. Its low temperature averaged over the month managed to stay above freezing.
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Washington dipped only to 29 degrees, tying its warmest January low from 1937.
It was also mild farther inland. In Albany, capital of the state of New York, every day in January featured a high temperature of at least 30 degrees for the first time on record. Syracuse also saw its warmest January low on record. In Ithaca, N.Y., every nightly low temperature was at least two degrees above normal.
Why was it so warm?
While January 2023 may be most remembered for the ceaseless deluge of rain that eased California’s drought conditions, the same jet stream configuration also flooded the United States with mild, Pacific air. At the same time, high pressure over the eastern United States and western Atlantic forced storms to track west of the Northeast and draw mild air northward from the Atlantic and the Gulf of Mexico.
Human-caused climate change also played a role by intensifying the warmth. Winter is the fastest-warming season in most of the Northern Hemisphere, including the Northeast.
Among the warmest of the warm
Historical data show this past January was one of the most exceptionally warm months in the history of the Northeast.
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In New York, the mean January temperature at two stations, LaGuardia Airport and Central Park, was at least 10 degrees above average. At both sites, only one recent month has ever seen a bigger departure from the norm: the infamously balmy December 2015. That month, the mean temperature was more than 12 degrees above average.
Other eastern U.S. cities also saw upper-echelon departures:
- Washington was almost nine degrees above average, the fifth-highest departure from normal since 1936. December 2015 was the most unusual.
- In Philadelphia, the month was more than 11 degrees above average, the second-most in its modern record. Only December 2015 was more exceptional.
- Hartford had a January that was about 10 degrees above average, the second-highest departure to December 2015, since 1945.
- In Boston, it was the fourth most unusually warm month since 1943. Again, December 2015 was the first. January 2020 was the third.
- Syracuse recorded its sixth-most unusually warm month, dating to 1942.
- The site at Portland, Maine, site has records to 1947, and January registered the second-highest departure from normal, after December 2015.
- Detroit recorded the second most unusually warm month on record, dating to 1948. Only March 2012 was more impressive versus normal.
Winter’s not over yet
Interestingly enough, most of the locations highlighted here will see colder weather in the first few days of February than they saw in all of January. It will surely come as a shock — albeit a brief one — to those accustomed to this winter-without-a-winter.
The month opened with the first accumulating snow of the season in Washington, Philadelphia and New York. By Saturday, wind chills will dip to zero or even below zero in these cities.
The core of the cold, however, is expected farther north. Temperatures are set to drop below zero in Boston, Hartford, Albany and Binghamton. New York should dip into the single digits, while the D.C. area tumbles into the teens. When factoring in the wind, parts of New England will feel as cold as minus-30 to minus-60. Classic weather whiplash.
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