NATIONAL STORM SUMMARY

JANUARY 2024

Dec. 31-Jan. 6: Late in the week, an initial round of significant precipitation emerged from the Four Corners States, reaching portions of the central and southern Plains. Locally more than a foot of snow fell in the southern Rockies, while modest portions of the central and southern Plains. At the end of the week, heavy showers quickly spread across the southern and eastern U.S., while snow blanketed portions of the Northeast.

Significant changes began to occur during the mid- to late-week period. In Nevada, Winnemucca reported daily-record precipitation and snowfall totals—0.56 and 4.9 inches, respectively—on January 3. In Alta, UT, snow began to fall on January 4, with 28.5 inches reported in a 5-day period ending the 8th. Farther south, January 4 snowfall in New Mexico totaled 2.5 inches in Clayton and 2.2 inches in Albuquerque. Late in the week, rain and snow arrived on the central and southern Plains. In Kansas, daily-record precipitation totals for January 5 included 0.59 inch in Medicine Lodge and 0.45 inch in Wichita. On the same date, Kansas snowfall amounts reached 3.3 inches in Wichita, 3.1 inches in Dodge City, and 2.5 inches in Goodland. Meanwhile, heavy showers in coastal Texas led to dailyrecord totals for the 5th in Palacios (1.56 inches) and Houston (1.44 inches). At week’s end, precipitation swept into the East. In Florida, daily-record amounts for January 6 topped the 2-inch mark in St. Petersburg (2.71 inches) and Apalachicola (2.42 inches). Most (2.04 inches) of St. Petersburg’s rain fell in an hour, from 9 to 10 am EST. Farther north, daily-record totals for January 6 included 0.97 inch at Virginia’s Dulles Airport and 0.89 inch in Bluefield, WV. In Pennsylvania, January 6 featured snowfall totaling 5.3 inches in Allentown and 3.3 inches in Harrisburg. For Harrisburg, it was the first accumulating snow since January 25, 2023, ending a record-setting, 345-day streak without measurable snow. In New England, January 6-7 snowfall topped a foot in several locations, including Worcester, MA (15.5 inches), and Portland, ME (12.8 inches).

7-13: Two significant winter storms followed a similar path across the country, starting in the Northwest and curving toward the Southwest, before tracking northeastward from the central or southern Plains.  Both storms produced substantial precipitation as far south as northern California and the northern Intermountain West, as well as heavy snow from the central Plains into parts of the Midwest. Meanwhile, heavy showers and locally severe thunderstorms swept across the South, with two-storm rainfall totals topping 4 inches in some areas from Alabama to the Carolinas. In the middle and northern Atlantic States, two rounds of heavy precipitation falling on saturated soils resulted in fresh-water flooding, while strong southeasterly winds contributed to coastal flooding. Weekly precipitation also exceeded in 4 inches in parts of coastal New England.

As the week began, a weather system from the previous week was winding down across the Northeast. January 6-7 snowfall topped a foot in a few Northeastern locations, including Worcester, MA (15.5 inches), and Portland, ME (12.8 inches). Meanwhile, two additional major storms began to affect the country only 3 to 4 days apart. By January 8, high winds were observed in the Southwest, with gusts in New Mexico clocked to 67 mph in Raton and 64 mph in Clayton. Farther north, daily snowfall records for the 8th topped the 10-inch mark in Sioux Falls, SD, and Norfolk, NE, with both locations receiving 10.5 inches. Daily records for the 8th in Kansas reached 8.1 inches in Dodge City and 6.9 inches in Goodland. In Iowa, record-setting snowfall totals for January 9 included 11.5 inches in Waterloo and 8.3 inches in Des Moines. In fact, Des Moines received measurable snow each day from January 7 -13, totaling 23.0 inches, marking its snowiest week since December 28, 1941 – January 3, 1942, when 24.7 inches fell.

, the first tornadorelated deaths of the year were noted on January 9, with one fatality apiece in Houston County, AL, and Catawba County, NC. Additionally, dozens of daily precipitation records were established on the 9th across the South, East, and lower Midwest, with amounts ranging from 1 to 4 inches or more. Rainfall records for the 9th topped the 3-inch mark in Athens, GA (4.56 inches); Greenville-Spartanburg, SC (4.38 inches); Asheville, NC (3.98 inches); Mount Pocono, PA (3.19 inches); and Hattiesburg, MS (3.17 inches). In Indianapolis, IN, a barometric pressure record for January was set on the 9th, with a minimum reading of 981.0 millibars, or 28.97 inches (previously, 984.4 millibars on January 26, 1978). With southeasterly winds battering the Atlantic Coast on the night of January 9-10, storm-surge flooding was impressive in several areas. On the Maryland side of the Chesapeake Bay, a top-three flood was observed in Cambridge (stage of 5.25 feet) and along the Severn River at Annapolis (5.10 feet). Those levels were 0.93 and 2.06 feet, respectively, below the high-water marks established during Hurricane Isabel on September 19, 2003. In northern New England, storm-surge flooding occurred on January 10 and 13, with Portland, ME, recording a record-high surge (14.57 feet) on the latter date and a top-four surge (13.84 feet) on the 10th. The midto late-week storm delivered additional snow, starting in the Northwest, with Boise, ID, measuring 5.2 inches on January 10. By the 12th, Midwestern dailyrecord snowfall totals included 11.8 inches in Green Bay, WI, and 10.0 inches in Waterloo, IA. Midwestern blizzard conditions were common, as wind gusts frequently topped 40 mph. Green Bay’s snow on the 12th was accompanied by a gust to 54 mph. By January 13, a new Pacific storm system punched inland across the West. In northern California, record-setting rainfall amounts for January 13 reached 2.81 inches in Crescent City and 2.45 inches in Eureka. Farther east, Boise, ID (6.8 inches on the 13th), noted its second daily-record snowfall in 4 days, while Alta, UT, saw its snowfall for the first half of January climb to 99.0 inches.

14-20: As the week began, snow accumulated from the mid-South into the midAtlantic. January 14-16 event-total snowfall reached 9.0 inches in Jackson, KY, and 8.2 inches in Knoxville, TN. Southern snowfall totals for January 14-15 included 3.4 inches in Memphis, TN, and 3.0 inches in Little Rock, AR. On February 15, record-setting snowfall totals in West Virginia reached 4.7 inches in Beckley and 3.1 inches in Huntington. Elsewhere on the 15th, daily-record amounts totaled 6.4 inches in Jackson, KY; 6.3 inches in Nashville, TN; and 4.1 inches in Baltimore, MD. That marked the first 6-inch daily snowfall in Nashville since January 6, 2022, when an identical amount fell. For Baltimore, a record-setting, 716-day streak without seeing an inch of snow—lasting from January 29, 2022 – January 14, 2024)—ended. Similar streaks (without receiving a calendar-day total of at least an inch of snow) ended on the 15th in Philadelphia, PA, with 1.5 inches, and on the 16th at New York’s Central Park, with 1.3 inches. Philadelphia’s streak lasted 715 days, starting January 30, 2022, while New York’s streak endured 701 days, starting February 14, 2022. Previous records had been 672 days in Baltimore (last day was December 25, 2012); 661 days in Philadelphia (last day was December 15, 1973); and 383 days in New York (last day was March 21, 1998). Farther south, Fort Myers, FL, netted a dailyrecord rainfall (3.09 inches on January 15). Meanwhile, squalls persisted downwind of the Great Lakes, where Buffalo, NY, noted measurable snow each day from January 14-20, totaling 35.4 inches. Precipitation also continued to push inland across the West, where Alta, UT, received 112.2 inches of snow during the first 20 days of January, more than twice the normal amount. Western daily-record snowfall totals for January 17 included 5.8 inches in Havre, MT, and 5.1 inches in Spokane, WA. Havre had just 3 inches of snow on the ground when the temperature fell to -44°F on January 14, but saw its depth increase to 9 inches by the 18th. Late in the week, snow returned across the central Appalachians and mid-Atlantic, leading to daily-record amounts on the 19th of 8.2 inches in Elkins, WV, and 4.9 inches at Virginia’s Dulles Airport. A dailyrecord sum had also occurred at Dulles Airport just 4 days earlier, with 4.1 inches on January 15.

Jim G. Munley, jr.
http://www.jimmunleywx.com