Earth

Warm U.S. West balanced cold U.S. East to create average January

NOAA’s national overview for January 2014 is out, and the results might surprise you … if you live in the eastern half of the U.S. Yes, those in the U.S. East this year have been shivering and digging out from under mounds of snow. On January 6, 2014, alone, approximately 50 daily record low temperatures were set, from Colorado to Alabama to New York, according to the National Weather Service. In some places temperatures were 40 degrees Fahrenheit colder than average. According to NOAA temperature data for the month of January 2014, however, the average temperature for the U.S. as a whole was about normal. That’s because a warm U.S. West balanced a cool U.S. East.

Overall, the average temperature for January 2014 in the U.S. was 30.3 degrees, only one-tenth of a degree below normal for the month. That makes January 2014 in the continental U.S. the 53rd coldest of 120 years of record-keeping, according to the National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration.

Click here to read the specifics of the month of January 2014, from NOAA.

Seth Borenstein of AP has a good article on this results, also.

View larger. | January 2014 overview via NOAA's National Climatic Data Center.
View larger. | January 2014 overview via NOAA’s National Climatic Data Center.

Why has it been so cold in the U.S. East? If you haven’t heard the words polar vortex by now, you are definitely not paying attention. NASA has a great illustration of the formation of the polar vortex over weeks. NASA explained:

A persistent pattern of winds spins high above the Arctic in winter. The winds, known as the polar vortex, typically blow in a fairly tight circular formation. But in late December 2013 and early January 2014, the winds loosened and frigid Arctic air spilled farther south than usual, deep into the continental United States.

The video below explains it more fully, or click here to go to NASA’s page on The Big Chill.

Bottom line: Despite record-breaking cold temperatures in the U.S. East, the average temperature for the U.S. for the month of January is about normal. That’s because extra-warm temps in the U.S. West offset the rest of the country.

Posted 
February 18, 2014
 in 
Earth

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Deborah Byrd

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