January 2009 Weather

Noticed when I posted this earlier, it cut a bunch out, so here it is again, our weather for the month of January 2009. PUBLIC INFORMATION STATEMENT NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE NOME AK 755 AM AKST SUN FEB 1 2009 ...NOME MONTHLY WEATHER SUMMARY FOR JANUARY 2009... THE FIRST MONTH OF 2009 SAW TWO DISTINCT PERIODS OF COLD, DRY WEATHER SANDWICHED AROUND A PERIOD OF WARMER, WETTER CONDITIONS. A COLD, ARCTIC AIRMASS SETTLED OVER THE REGION IN LATE DECEMBER AND PERSISTED THROUGH THE FIRST 11 DAYS OF THE MONTH. TEMPERATURES DURING THIS TIME REMAINED BELOW ZERO, AND AVERAGED IN THE NEGATIVE TEENS AND 20S. DURING THE NEXT 15 DAYS, A MAJOR PATTERN SHIFT BROUGHT WARMER TEMPERATURES AND SNOWY WEATHER TO NOME. WARM SOUTHERLY FLOW RAISED MAX TEMPERATURES TO THE TEENS AND 20S ABOVE ZERO, AND EVEN BROUGHT TEMPERATURES ABOVE THE FREEZING MARK FOR TWO DAYS. THE FINAL FIVE DAYS OF THE MONTH SAW TEMPERATURES PLUMMET BELOW ZERO ONCE AGAIN. THE HIGHEST TEMPERATURE FOR THE MONTH WAS 36 DEGREES ON THE 16TH, WHILE THE LOWEST WAS NEGATIVE 28 ON THE 3RD. TWENTY-ONE DAYS HAD LOW TEMPERATURES BELOW ZERO, WITH ELEVEN OF THOSE DAYS DROPPING TO NEGATIVE 20 OR BELOW. THE AVERAGE MONTHLY TEMPERATURE WAS ONE DEGREE, AND THIS WAS 4.8 DEGREES BELOW NORMAL FOR JANUARY. OTHER THAN A DUSTING OF SNOW ON NEW YEAR'S DAY, THE FIRST ELEVEN DAYS OF THE MONTH WERE DRY. A MAJOR PATTERN SHIFT BROUGHT TWO STRONG STORM SYSTEMS, WHICH PRODUCED STRONG GUSTY WINDS, BLOWING SNOW, POOR VISIBILITIES, AND EVEN A BRIEF SHOT OF RAIN WHEN TEMPERATURES CLIMBED ABOVE FREEZING. SNOWFALL AMOUNTS OF AT LEAST AN INCH WERE RECORDED EACH DAY FROM THE 12TH THROUGH THE 16TH, WITH THE HIGHEST AMOUNT OF 4.7 INCHES REPORTED IN THE 15TH. THE MONTH ROUNDED OUT WITH JUST WEAK FLURRIES AND SCATTERED SNOW SHOWERS, WITH DAILY TOTALS BEING NO MORE THAN A HALF INCH. THE TOTAL SNOWFALL FOR THE MONTH WAS 15.6 INCHES, BRINGING THE CURRENT SNOW DEPTH TO 28 INCHES, AND THE TOTAL SNOWFALL FOR THE SEASON TO 39.7 INCHES.