Weekly Recap, January 8-14, 2012

Winter finally returned to Central New York by the end of last week. Temperatures dropped into the 20s on Friday after a midnight high of 44, bringing a record daily snowfall for January 13th of 8 inches. The 0.82 inches of precipitation was also a record for that date. A few snow showers dumped another 4.1 inches of snow in Syracuse on Saturday, so the season total is now up to 25.0 inches. 2011-2012 remains the least snowiest winter in Syracuse history, still way behind the 2001-2002 total of 59.4 inches.

Winter is not here to stay. By next Sunday and Monday, temperatures could be near 60 degrees if current model guidance is correct. Both the GFS and Euro and suggested these spring-like temperatures for the week of January 22nd to January 28th. It will feel much better than the low of 5 below zero that Syracuse had this morning. The warmth will likely not last more than a few days, but temperatures beyond that remain uncertain as it is too far in advance to put out a good forecast.