Spring? Nope. But January felt like it in Hampton Roads

Posted to: News Weather
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A daffodil in bloom in the front yard of a home in the 100 block of Orchard Street in Norfolk on Monday, Jan. 30,2012. (Bill Tiernan | The Virginian-Pilot)

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Hampton Roads weather

Radar, current conditions and forecast from WVEC and the 13News Weather Lab

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cozy facts

Lower home heating costs

Virginia Natural Gas residential customers spent $164.67 on average in January 2011.

This year: $110.37.

That’s an average of about $54.30 in savings.

January days in the 60s

2012 -- 15

2011 -- 2

2010 -- 4

Snow days last month

There were none ... but to be fair, last winter’s big snow came in December 2010.

take a swim?

Water temperature at a buoy positioned 64 nautical miles off Virginia Beach hit 54.9 degrees early Tuesday, 2 or 3 degrees higher than expected for this time of year, according to the National Weather Service.

Water temperatures usually reach their lowest point in March, when they hit the 40s.

By Cindy Clayton
The Virginian-Pilot
© February 1, 2012

You weren't imagining things.

It was warm last month.

Temperatures hit the 50s or 60s for 22 of January's 31 days. That made for a monthly average of about 56 degrees, about 8 degrees higher than normal.

The reason? Changes in the weather pattern have been keeping cold air up in Canada.

The effects down here have been noticeable: no need for bulky winter coats, home heating costs are down, bulbs are sprouting, and kids haven't had a snow day.

Today's springlike high will be near 70.

It may make you wonder if winter ever will arrive in Hampton Roads this year.

The Climate Prediction Center is forecasting a better than 50 percent chance that we'll see snow, even if it's minor, before winter's end, said Larry Brown, a National Weather Service meteorologist.

And who knows what Punxsutawney Phil will predict when the groundhog emerges from his lair Thursday.

A late spring?

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Awesome weather

Submitted by traces on Wed, 02/01/2012 at 12:28 pm.

This weather is more like it should be around here. I can remember one Christmas or Christmas Eve when the temp was in the high 80s in the Dismal Swamp. Maybe around 1977-1979.

No Doubt Utility Companies

Submitted by RoosterB on Wed, 02/01/2012 at 9:21 am.

will use this as yet another reason to apply for a rate increase, the mild temperatures having adversely impacted on their profit margins.

oops

Submitted by NO JONES on Wed, 02/01/2012 at 8:26 am.

put down

Use it wisely

Submitted by NO JONES on Wed, 02/01/2012 at 8:24 am.

Clean your gutters and put gown weed & feed.

Global warming!!

Submitted by choochoo17 on Wed, 02/01/2012 at 7:41 am.

It's global warming. Somebody call Al Gore so he can say I told ya so....and so he can save us.

He just got off his private

Submitted by Lores on Wed, 02/01/2012 at 8:29 am.

He just got off his private jet, stepped into his limo to go to his mansion, and is spending the weekend on his yacht.

If the GOPT "leaders" can ...

Submitted by TR on Wed, 02/01/2012 at 9:38 am.

... build an igloo in DC during a record snow storm and label it Al Gore's house (during the **WINTER**) -- which is applauded by their ditto minions -- as some type of 'proof' that global warming is nonsense, then surely these same deep thinkers (using their same 'logic') should be apologizing for their past silliness and pointing to this record warm month as proof positive. Chop chop minions.

Should have been labeled Climate Change

Submitted by peter1121 on Wed, 02/01/2012 at 7:31 pm.

Global warming was a misnomer, it should have been Climate change, as most people are calling it, but of course, some people will not realize this; too bad for them. If you think this weather is normal it is not, but you have to be a rational person before you realize that this climate is not normal.

Igloos

Submitted by RicM25798 on Wed, 02/01/2012 at 1:20 pm.

Spout your rhetoric to those in Nome, Alaska:

"
The worst winter anyone can remember in Alaska has piled snow so high people can't see out the windows, kept a tanker in ice-choked waters from delivering fuel on time and turned snow-packed roofs into sled runs. Published by the AP on January 12, 2012.

Just because it's warm out today doesn't mean it's global. It's called weather and it changes often.