Warmer than usual January forecast for Tri-Cities

Expect another warmer than usual month in the Tri-Cities, the National Weather Service said.

Despite the colder than normal start to the month, the weather service is predicting temperatures will average warmer than usual by the time January concludes. Near-normal precipitation is predicted.

Normal highs for January in the Tri-Cities are 41.5 degrees and normal lows are 29.4 degrees. Normal precipitation is 1.08 inches.

December ended with temperatures well below normal, but the average temperature for the month still was 3.7 degrees above normal in the Tri-Cities.

Two new daily records were set at the Hanford Meteorological Station for warm weather, according to the Hanford Meteorology Service, which keeps daily records back to World War II.

On Dec. 8, a new record high of 66 degrees easily beat the previous record of 58 degrees recorded for the date in 1989.

Temperatures for the month averaged 34.8 degrees at Hanford, which was 3.7 degrees above normal.

The next day, the high at Hanford was 62 degrees, beating the previous record high for the date of 59 degrees last recorded in 1987.

In Kennewick, the high that day reached 69 degrees and the low was 53 degrees. It and other warm days in the second week of the month helped bring up the average, despite a high of 26 degrees on the first day of the month and highs in the 30s the last six days of the month.

The coldest temperature in the Tri-Cities, as recorded in Kennewick, was 19 degrees on the last day of the month.

Precipitation for the month in the Tri-Cities was 1.78 inches, which was 0.65 inch above normal. On 17 days, enough precipitation fell as rain or snow to measure.

Snowfall totaled 3.7 inches, with the heaviest snowfall on Dec. 2, according to the National Weather Service.

At Hanford, 7 inches of snow fell in December, including 2.9 inches on Dec. 2 and 2.7 inches on Dec. 17. Normal snowfall at Hanford in December is 5.9 inches.

The peak wind gust for the month in Kennewick was 49 mph on Dec. 9. At the Hanford Meteorological Station, it was 47 mph on the same day.

This story was originally published January 6, 2016 at 4:57 PM with the headline "Warmer than usual January forecast for Tri-Cities."