Almost balmy January for Anchorage

January weather in Anchorage proved — well, pretty normal.

And while it may not have felt that way, the first month of the year was a little warmer than usual. The average high temperature of 23.1 degrees was about a degree warmer than normal, according to the National Weather Service. But the average low of 12.5 degrees was a balmy 3.2 degrees warmer than typical.

There was a yawning 57-degree gap between the warmest temperature of the month, 45 degrees, and the coldest, minus-12. Neither was close to the records of 56 degrees (1934) and minus-35 (1947).

Snowfall totaled 7.3 inches — far below the 1949 record of 36.1 inches in January, and a bit below the average of 9 inches.

But nearly half the month — 15 days — saw clear or partly cloudy skies.

Up north, Fairbanks is suffering through another snow-starved year — though not quite as bad as last year, the third-lowest snowfall on record.

Fairbanks has seen just 26.8 inches of snow all winter — well shy of Anchorage’s 43 inches, and only slightly more than last year’s 20.7 inches through the end of January.

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