January 2015 Review - Jyväskylä

2015 saw a rather mild start to the year in Jyväskylä. This edition of January was the warmest seen since 2008. It wasn't only Jyväskylä that saw warmer temperatures. Everywhere in Finland was above average. The biggest differences were seen in the south where it was between 3C and 4C above average. The differences decreased further north, down to a 0C to 0.5C difference in Lapland. Precipitation was also above average. Many locations recorded almost double the average.

The average minimum and maximums for Januaries at Jyväskylä Airport since 2009 can be seen below.

January averages at Jyväskylä Airport for the period 2009-2015

Both the average minimum and maximum were the highest seen out of the past seven Januaries. The averages weren't too far off those of 2011 and 2013 though. According to the Finnish Meteorological Institute, the average for the month at Jyväskylä Airport was -6.5C, compared to my -6.8C. FMI records put the -6.5C figure as the warmest since 2008, and almost 2C above the 1981-2010 average of -8.3C.

Extremes for the month were seen only on two days. For the second year in a row, New Year's Day was responsible for the warmest temperature of the month as well as the highest minimum. It didn't go below 1.0C then and climbed as high as 3.6C. Since 2009, only 2009 had a warmer respective figure than 3.6C. January 2010 didn't see one recording above zero. 2009 and 2013 had a warmer highest minimum though.

January 6 was the coldest day of the month. It dropped to -24.2C then and was only as warm as -18.5C. The -18.5C recording was the lowest daily maximum since January 18 in 2013. Again, only 2009 saw a warmer overall minimum than January 2014. Every other year saw at least one January day go below -25C.

January 1 was also responsible for the warmest temperature recorded in Finland during the month. It reached an almost balmy 7.5C in Kristiinakaupunki. January 11 saw the lowest overall when it dipped to -39.6C at Utsjoki.

Up and down temperatures from late December continued throughout January. There were four warm periods and three cold periods, as seen in the graph below. Despite having the highest averages of the past seven years, January 2015 recorded more days, eight, with a maximum at -10C or below than 2009, 2011 and 2013. 2012 also saw eight. On the other hand, the recording of 11 days above zero was the highest since 2009.

Daily minimums and maximums against rainfall at Jyväskylä Airport for January 2015

Precipitation was well above average in Jyväskylä during the month. FMI recorded a total of 75mm for Tikkakoski, compared to my 65.9mm. Either way, the 1981-2010 average of 45mm was easily surpassed, as well as 2014's recording of only 15mm. There were 24 days of precipitation. No month in 2014 saw such a high number.

January 2 recorded the highest daily total with 11.6mm. That was also the highest total in two and a half months. Including the 2nd, there were five days that saw more than 5mm recorded. A nine day streak of precipitation from the 23rd to the end of the month was the longest run, while there were two three day streaks of no falls, January 4 to 6 and 20 to 22.

Elsewhere in Finland, the highest monthly total was seen in Tornio. A total of 129mm was recorded there. Tornio also saw the highest daily total when 33.7mm fell on January 29. A three day period around the 29th saw a 30cm increase in snow depth.

While there were some falls on days that exceeded 0C in Jyväskylä, pretty much all precipitation fell as snow. As a result, snow depths were quite good for this time of year. It was 38cm deep by the middle of the month, above the 30cm average. At the same time in 2014, there was only 2cm. By the end of the month this year the depth had gone above 40cm, still a few centimetres above the average.