January brings the coldest average temperatures of the year to Central Indiana. We certainly haven't had much cold to complain about lately. Since the 20th of December, only one day has failed to make it out of the 30s for highs. It looks like we may be spared the frigid chill of winter a while longer.
The January outlook from the Climate Prediction Center calls for slightly above average temperatures near and south of I-70. The rest of Central Indiana falls in the equal chances category. This means there's no strong signal tipping the scale in favor of near, above or below average.
That said, the first couple of weeks of the month are favoring temperatures to run either at or above average all across the state. Our average high sits in the mid 30s, while our average low hovers around 20 degrees.
When it comes to precipitation, the SE half of Indiana could end up a little more wet than the NW half. This is due to Central Indiana being on the northern edge of the more active storm track across the Tennessee Valley.
January is typically a fairly dry month for us averaging 2.66" of precipitation. So, it doesn't take too much to climb above average when we keep our current weather pattern going. While it may traditionally be a drier month, it's also our snowiest. We average more than 8" of snow. December proved we can have a mild month with plenty of snow, so snow lovers shouldn't lose hope just yet.
