It was the warmest January in more than a decade in the Big Apple, according to meteorologists, who predicted a change later this month — with the possibility of “significant snow.”
The first month of 2017 averaged 38 degrees — 5.4 degrees above normal — making it the warmest January since 2006.
“It’s not going to make the top 10, but when you start talking about a month being 5 degrees above or below normal, that’s definitely significant,” senior Accuweather meteorologist Tom Kines said.
In 2006, the average temperature ticked up to 40.9 degrees — still 2.3 degrees below the city’s warmest January on record back in 1932.
And last month snapped a string of snowy Januarys, with just 7.9 inches.
The year before, the city was covered in 27.9 inches of snow — nearly all of which came from Winter Storm Jonas. January 2015 and 2014 were also unusually snowy, with 16.9 inches and 19.7 inches, respectively.
But there are some signs that the city could get clobbered with “significant snow” later in the month as some storm systems move through the South and pick up steam from chilly air sitting over the northeastern part of the country, he said.
“If the timing is right, the potential is there for some snow,” Kines said.