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| Ice jam and flooding on Boston Post Road in Enosburg, Vermont on a rainy, record warm January 12. The warmth came just five days after record cold. |
That long streak was broken in January, when that brutal cold wave in the eastern two thirds of the nation created more record lows than record highs.
According to the Guy On Climate blog, using information from the National Climate Data Center, said there were 1,918 daily record highs in January and 2,750 daily record lows. (Burlington, Vermont had one of those record highs and one of those record lows in January.)
Thus, January ended a remarkable streak of 37 consecutive months where United States record highs outpaced record lows.
It's just one indication, though I admit not proof, that the climate is off the rails. You should have roughly an even number of record lows and record highs. Some months would have more record highs, others would have more record lows, depending on the weather pattern during that period. But long term, it should even out.
You'll notice the record lows in January did not outpace record highs by all that much. Some months during the three year streak of warmth were particularly lopsided. For instance, one standout, February, 2017 had 7,180 record highs and just 178 record lows.
So far in February, as of Tuesday, there had been 962 daily record high maximum temperatures across the country and 69 record lows.
Most of those record highs were in the western part of the nation. Over the next several days, record and near record highs are likely on various days over the next week or so in the eastern and southern third of the country.
Meanwhile, cold air will be mostly confined to the northwestern third of the nation, That chilly air isn't exceptional, so there won't be very many record lows to report in the coming days.
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