January 2010 Summary

Temperature [Min]:
Night time temperatures ranged from -3.0 degs C on the night of the 6th/7th to 9.1 degs C on that of the 21st/22nd. The average night time temp for the month was 2.73 degs C, which is almost 5 degrees lower than the recent mild Januarys of 2007 and 08.
Surprisingly perhaps, the all time lowest minimum for this location was not exceeded [-4.6 in January 09], but what was remarkable about January 2010 was the number of nights of extremely low temperatures. There were 23 nights where the temperature fell below 5 degs C, compared with the next most of 15 in January 2006 and 14 in 2009. Furthermore there were 9 nights when the temp fell below zero - compared with just 3 in January 2009 and 1 in 2004.
Between the 1st and the 10th, night time temps were always below 1.4 degs C, climbing to within the range 1.9 to 4.8 between the 11th and 15th. More normal temperatures existed between the 16th and 22nd, but nights returned to generally colder than normal after that.

Temperature [Max]:
Daytime temps for the month of January 2010 ranged from just 2.8 degs C on the 9th - the coldest ever recorded at this location - to a mild 14.3 degs on the 16th. The average was 8.33 degs C, which is the lowest ever for January, and down about 4 degs on the average for January 2008.

Rain:
116.9 mm of rain/snow was recorded for the month, compared to 144 in December 09, and 150.7 in January 2009, making the month comparatively dry. There were never, however, more than two consecutive totally dry days. Almost half of the total rainfall fell on two days - 25.1 mm on the 16th [the wettest day], and 21.8 mm on the 12th.
On the morning of the 7th, a narrow band of snow showers gave a fair covering in the area, which lead to dangerous road and pavement conditions, with the resultant ice remaining for the next 5 days.