PENNSYLVANIA, USA — After a December that ranked in the top three for the warmest on record in both northeastern and central Pennsylvania, that trend continued into 2022.
New Year's Day was the warmest day this month. The high was 55 degrees that day at Wilkes-Barre/Scranton International Airport. In Williamsport, the high on January 1 was 53.
Then things changed.
Despite how cold it may have felt throughout January, we did not break any records. However, we did experience some of the coldest temperatures we have felt in years, especially at night. For more than half the month, we woke up to temperatures colder than 15 degrees. Ten of those mornings were in the single digits or subzero in the Scranton area. The coldest temperature recorded at the airport was -3; that happened on both January 16 and January 22.
Elsewhere, the morning of Saturday the 22nd saw some even colder readings. Jon Meyer had -8 at his house in the Back Mountain that morning. Our friends in Lopez in Sullivan County tell us they got to -24 on the morning of the 22nd; that seems to be the coldest report from our 17-county viewing area. Viewers in Lopez sent us photos of an icicle cave; after all, Lopez is considered the Icebox of NEPA.
Snow totals for the month were nearly what's considered to be average in both northeastern and central Pennsylvania. 13.2 inches of snow fell in Williamsport this month, and 9.6 inches fell in Scranton. The most snow fell from the storm on the Sunday of Martin Luther King weekend, dropping 5.1 inches in Williamsport and 4 inches in Scranton.
Probably the biggest story in the weather world this month was the powerful nor'easter that slammed the East Coast this past weekend. The storm, now officially classified as a blizzard along the coast, stayed far enough east that we were spared this time.
WINTER TIPS: Check out severe weather tips on WNEP's YouTube channel.