PENNSYLVANIA, USA — In recent years, Januarys have been fairly quiet in the weather world.
Quiet but cold is OK for ski resorts in the area, especially on Martin Luther King Weekend. It is one of the busiest weekends of the year and can make or break a ski resort's season. And of course, the weather is the biggest factor.
In the last six years, snow totals for the month of January were below average. The last time we saw any real notable snow during January was in 2015, with a total of 15.2 inches of snow for the month.
In 2011, the Scranton area picked up a total of 18.3 inches of snow for the entire month of January. That puts 2011 as the 15th snowiest January on record.
The three snowiest Januarys on record are 1994, 1996, and 1987. More than 16 inches of snow fell on January 17, 1994, and there were quite a few smaller snowstorms in January of that year, too, putting the monthly total at more than 42 inches of snow.
Some of the warmer Januarys on record in recent years were 2006 and 2020.
The coldest January on record was in 1977 when the average temperature for the month was just 15 degrees. That year, there were only five days in the entire month above 30 degrees; most days were in the teens and 20s, and several nights were subzero. Viewers say they remember being off from school and work for the first time because of cold, not snow.
By the end of January, the sun will rise just before 7:15 a.m. and set just after 5:15 p.m.
The average daily temperatures also start to increase by the end of the month. The average high by January 31 is 36 degrees, and the average low is 20.
After a very mild start to the month last weekend, when ski resorts had to close to preserve snow, things are feeling much more like January this week and next, and there is even a little bit of snow in the forecast.
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