Fourth warmest January in the last century recorded this year: UW weather station

Moyra Hamilton, northeast of Durham

The University of Waterloo Weather Station says this January was the fourth warmest in the history of the record books – which go back over 100 years.

The weather station noted only a couple of days were colder than average last month, with the overall temperature 4.5 degrees celsius above average.

“This made it the fourth warmest January in the history of weather records in the region which go back over 100 years,” the weather station said. “The last warmer one was in 2006 and then you have to go all the way back to 1932 and 1933.”

According to the weather station, the first 20 days of January saw four centimetres of snow at the UW Weather Station. This is the lowest for the beginning of January since 1957. 

“The 17.5 cm that fell on Jan. 26 helped put the total snowfall for the month at 35 cm, which is less than the average of 43.7 cm.  Overall for the snowfall season we have had 75 cm, below the average of 95.3 cm for this point in the season,” the weather station said.

The weather station also noted the cloudy and gloomy nature of the month as well.

They recorded 23 "dreary days" in January, where there isn't over 400 watts of solar radiation per square metre. This is the highest number for the month in the station's 25 years of existence, with the next highest coming in 2011 at 18.