Arctic chill may spill across our region in January

By Northern News Now meteorologist Dave Anderson – January 1, 2025

Much has been made lately about the fact that 2024 is probably going to be the warmest year in recorded history. We must keep in mind that American recorded weather history goes back to 1870 with the birth of what is now the National Weather Service. The Duluth office was one of the first built and the folks there are still proud of that. They’ll be crunching numbers this week to determine what the actual mean temperature was for 2024 and how big a departure it was. Right now, we can say that two months were normal and the rest were warmer than normal. We’ll have the final numbers for you next month.

La Nina was supposed to cool us down and technically it did that in December. That month was one of the two in 2024 that had a normal mean temperature. There are signs that the trend for cooler temps will continue in January. Long range forecasters think the first month of 2025 will average one degree cooler than normal. Normal snow should return and that means about ten inches.

January 1st to the 12th should be cool with light snow. The 8th to 10th may feature a mini warm spell for the standard January thaw we get. The 11th to 18th could be cold and snowy. An arctic outbreak is possible from the 19th to 25th. As usual, that may make it too cold to snow much. Expect just flurries in that period. Better snow chances return for the 26th to 31st and temperature trends should be in the normal range.

As always, thank you very much for reading this column and catching me on Northern News Now for the weather and the “Holding on to History” series. Best wishes in the new year to you for the weather and everything else!

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Northern News Now Meteorologist Dave Anderson is the longest-serving meteorologist in the Northland. Away from Northern News Now, Anderson has been an adjunct meteorology instructor for Lake Superior College since 2003. He has been an adjunct instructor for Northland College since 2004 and teaches the broadcast meteorology practicum. He is proud that several of his students have gone on to become broadcast meteorologists themselves. Always community-minded, Dave served on the board of the Marine Museum in Duluth and as a Cub Scout leader for several years in the past. For more than 20 years, he has been a U.S. Coast Guard Auxiliarist and has served as flotilla commander, weather instructor, and public affairs officer. Right now, he serves on the USCG Auxiliary National Staff in the marketing department.