Remember how mild it was last month?
Well, it turns out January, 2020 was the warmest January on record for Earth, the fifth warmest on record for America’s 48 contiguous states, and well above average for 21 states, including Ohio and Michigan.
That’s according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, which averages temperatures over land and ocean surfaces for its global temperature data, which dates back to 1880.
In this part of the United States, the snow blast over the past two days — coupled with the prospect of freezing or near-freezing weather until at least Sunday morning — has likely made those wild and funky t-shirt-wearing, fire-up-the-grill days of January a distant memory for the time being. Daily high temperatures are expected to climb up into the 40s on Monday and Tuesday, though, then fall back down into the 30s on Wednesday and Thursday, according to the National Weather Service.
Of 21 states with well-above temperatures in January, all but four were in the Midwest or the Northeast.
Deke Arndt, NOAA chief of climate monitoring, told The Blade that part of the nation likely got a boost from a phenomenon known as Arctic oscillation. It’s one in which a strong jet stream is particularly effective at holding Arctic air closer to the North Pole, thereby allowing warm air masses from the South to move up into the Midwest and Northeast.
“The jet stream stays more northern and tighter,” he said. “It’s kind of the opposite of what we call the polar vortex.”
Aaron Wilson, an Ohio State University atmospheric scientist who works for OSU’s Byrd Polar and Climate Research Center, OSU Extension, and the State Climate Office of Ohio, agreed.
“When it's in its very strong positive phase, it keeps cold air bottled up in the Arctic,” Mr. Wilson said.
Winter and spring have been warming faster than summer and fall for years. That’s especially true for evening temperatures, he said.
Although winters are getting warmer, this past January was “an unusually warm January for sure,” Mr. Arndt said.
Other items of note from the NOAA report:
■ No state ranked average or below average for temperature this January.
■ Europe, South America, the Caribbean, Hawaii, and Asia had their second warmest Januarys on record. Australia had its third.
■ January, 2020 marked the 44th consecutive January and the 421st consecutive month with global temperatures above their 20th century average.
First Published February 14, 2020, 12:00 p.m.
