By Joseph D’Aleo, CCM, AMS Fellow

It was cold start to the winter most places east of the Rockies. The temperature In December and January was atypical La Nina with the coldest in the southeast (for NOAA NCDC, the region which includes Virginia, the Carolinas, Florida, Georgia and Alabama).

Enlarged.

The average temperature for the southeast region in December was 39.4F, which was 8.03F below the 20th century (1901-2000) average, the third coldest on record. The December temperature trend for the entire period of record (1895-2010) is 0.06 degrees F per decade.

Enlarged.

The average in January 2011 for the southeast was 42.0 F. This was -4.2 F cooler than the 1901-2000 (20th century) average, the 19th coolest January in 117 years. The January temperature trend for the period of record (1895 to present) is -0.2 degrees Fahrenheit per decade.

For the nation as a whole, the average temperature in January 2011 was 30.0 F. This was -0.8 F cooler than the 1901-2000 (20th century) average, the 37th coolest January in 117 years. The temperature trend for the period of record (1895 to present) is 0.1 degrees Fahrenheit per decade.

Enlarged.

February started very cold in much of the nation though at least a brief February thaw is expected this week.

Enlarged.

Ground zero for the cold in December and in December and January combined was Florida with Georgia close behind. Both states had their coldest Decembers.

For Florida, the first two winter months were the coldest in the entire record going back to 1895, beating out the cold winters of 1980/81, 1976/77 and 1917/18.


Enlarged.

In Georgia, it was the third coldest December/January period since 1895, falling behind just the incredible 1917/18 winter (the coldest La Nina in the last 110 years) and 1976/77.

Enlarged.

See PDF.