BLOG: How "Unusual" is this Warmth?

Ok, ok, I hear ya, relative to the last two winters here in Baltimore and across Maryland, this one has seemed rather mild.  And indeed it has been, particularly so in January.

And even more so on the end of January, with our old record of 69F at BWI (set way back in 1947) threatened this Tuesday the 31st, with a record high temp of 66F.  Oh so close...

However, despite the warmth staying and even ratcheting up a bit on Feb 1st, don't expect a new record?  The reason being a much higher threshold.  The old record for Feb 1st at BWI stands at a balmy 75F (set not so long ago in 2002)!

Also, here are just a few other factors one must consider (weather-wise) when putting the "warmth" of January 2012 in context:

-Remember back *3 winters ago?  That's right, before our "Snowpocolyspe" season in (late 2009-10), and our "Commutapocolypse" season in 2010-11, the winter season of 2008-09 was relatively mild and uneventful.

-Remember the late 90s and early 2000s here in Maryland?  I all but western high country, many of those winters, we would even get a renegade 70+ day in the "dead of winter."  (Refer to the recent Feb 1 record as an example).

-We did already get "hit" lightly this season!  When you ask?  Remember Halloween this October?  That's right, rare snow showers for Baltimore and in places like Carroll county, they were shoveling up to 5 inches.

**As for the near future, any change looks to be slight on our mild pattern.  La Nina is still going strong, those cool Pacific waters than can lend themselves to "East Coast ridging" in the U.S.  And, the polar jet continues to remain bottled up in Canada.   So as we love to say this time of year, stay tuned!