By Brad Spakowitz
Correspondent
After a warmer, wetter December, January was the exact opposite, and a good reminder of what good old-fashioned Wisconsin winters can be like.
The month was marked by repeated rounds of bitter cold arctic air, sometimes creating wind chills in the dangerous category.
Only 11 days had a daily average temperature at or above normal, the others were colder – sometimes much colder – than average.
The most frigid air arrived the morning of Jan. 26, with the coldest temperatures since last February.
Green Bay reported -17 degrees, -14 in Ashwaubenon, -18 in De Pere, Seymour -16, and farther north, Antigo dropped to -30 degrees, a record low for the date.
By the end of the month, the overall mean temperature was 4.6 degrees colder than the 30-year average.
Despite the cold January, good ice coverage and thickness was delayed on main waterways because of the warm December.
The poor ice conditions resulted in two ice rescues on the Bay of Green Bay, one of which made national headlines.
Nearly 40 people were ice fishing Jan. 8 near Point Comfort on the east shore of Green Bay, when a large chunk of ice they were on broke away from the shore.
All were safely rescued, thanks to a joint effort of the Brown County Sheriff’s Office, Green Bay Fire, New Franken Fire, the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (DNR) and the U.S. Coast Guard.
A week later, there was another bay ice rescue of three individuals, two of which went into the water off the shore near Brussels in Door County.
They both led to warnings from the DNR and Coast Guard to use caution when on the ice.
Precipitation
Snow was reported on 14 days, with the greatest load – 4.2 inches – falling Jan. 5-6, followed by 2.2 inches on Jan. 24.
The rest were miniscule, measuring well less than an inch.
By month’s end, the total snowfall measured was 7.5 inches, 6.8 inches less than average (14.3 inches).
With the omnipresent frigid air, moisture content of the snow was low, measuring only .32 inches when melted down, coming in as 1.07 inches less than average – and making it the fourth driest January on record.
For those of you keeping track, that brings the seasonal snowfall (October-April) to 28.9 inches as of Jan. 31, just a bit below the average of 30.8 inches.
More daylight
January did bring a noticeable, and welcome, change, by month’s end.
We had gained 58 minutes of daylight since the shortest day of the year (winter solstice, Dec. 21), and it’s nice still having a fair amount of light on the horizon well after 5 p.m.
It only gets better from here, because we are currently gaining two-and-a-half minutes of daylight each day – about 18 minutes a week.
That adds up quickly, another 78 minutes by the end of February, with sunrise at 6:31 a.m. and sunset at 5:38 p.m. Feb. 28.
A look toward February
Both daily average high and low temperatures also rise.
By the end of the month, the average high is 32 degrees, and the average low is 16.
Historically, February brings 12.0 inches of snow.
A few astronomy notes for February: Early-morning risers should enjoy the exceedingly bright white Venus in the east-southeast, just before daybreak.
Look for Venus, Mars and the moon closely grouped together the morning of Feb. 27.