Locally Heavy Rainfall for the Carolinas; Thunderstorms and Fire Weather Concerns for Intermountain West

Heavy rainfall from scattered thunderstorms is expected across the Southwest, Intermountain West, and Plains. Isolated dry thunderstorms may initiate additional fires across the west. The coastal Carolinas may experience flash floods in the coming days due to repeated thunderstorms. Additionally, a wave of intense summer heat will hit the Southern Plains and central Gulf Coast States this week. Read More >

January 2015 had two distinct weather regimes. After a couple of near normal days to start the month, Arctic air set up over the region. The Arctic air was accompanied by snowfall on January 3 and 5 which brought most areas 3 to 8 inches of snow. This cold air remained across the northern plains into mid January. With fresh snow cover, several days had lows well below zero with highs struggling to warm above zero. The weather dramatically changed around the 14th when mild air from the Pacific moved into the area. This began over two weeks of well above normal temperatures with several days above freezing. High temperatures at the end of the month averaged 10 to 15 degrees above normal.

Below are graphics for Huron, SD, Marshall, MN, Mitchell, SD, Sioux City, IA, Sioux Falls, SD and Spencer, IA showing how far above and below normal temperatures were. As can be seen, temperatures were rarely near normal in January. The final graphic shows the average high temperature for January 1-13 and January 14-31.

Huron , South Dakota departure from normal for January 2015