It was a warmer and drier January

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This El Nino winter season is living up to its reputation with a milder and drier weather pattern setting up across the Upper Midwest. On the west coast, numerous storms have pounded California with torrential rains and flash floods. The East coast was not left out either as it saw one of its biggest winter storms in decades. The map below shows a typical El Nino weather setup and you can see that has definitely been mirrored during the month of January.

Minnesota and Wisconsin shared in the warmth with temperatures a good 4 to 8 degrees above average. The average temperature in the Twin Cities for January 2016 was 17.6°, a solid 2 degrees above average. Check out the map below to see the other parts of the country that had a warmer than average January.

There was a lot less falling from the sky this past January. The first month of the year is usually our snowiest with 12." expected on average. January 2016 saw only a third of that with 4.1" of the white stuff recorded at MSP. It wasn't drier than normal everywhere, the map below shows a lot of green, aka rainfall, in areas where it was desperately needed.