“East Enjoys Unseasonable Warmth”
Nonsense. The warmth is absolutely normal this time of year.
‘January Thaw’
2014-01-12 11:02:41.000 – Samuel Hewitt, Summit Intern
Some meteorologists refer to weather phenomenon that occur on or near a certain date as a ‘singularity’. The most common temperature singularity is known to most as the ‘January Thaw’, a period of anomalous warming in the northeastern United States which normally occurs from mid-to-late January. What sets this singularity apart from most is that it occurs during the second coldest month of year for this region. An article by Godfrey et al. 2002 investigated the thaw, performing a statistical analysis in order to try and disprove its existence. They concluded that the warming spells occurred by chance and were not statistically significant. The authors noted that it is important to recognize that they did not prove, and cannot prove, that the ‘January Thaw’ does not exist.
Here in Ohio we often get a January thaw but not every year. We didn’t get one this year, although it was a mild month. Yeah, weather varies, can’t imagine why anyone would make a fuss about whether it exists or not. Somebody must have needed to add an easy publication to his CV.