It’s hard to believe that this month has been January! Having lived in Upstate/Central New York all my life, I’ve seen some pretty awful January’s. Yesterday we tied a record set back in 1914 for 54 degrees, and according to a story in today’s Post Standard, January of 2006 was the warmest on record with an average temperature of 33.3 degrees. There were seven days above 50 degrees, and 16 days above 40!!

Everyone I’ve overheard talking about this has mentioned that they’re waiting for the other shoe to drop. Can we have such a nice January without retribution? Will the Weather Gods permit such a thing? My personal theory is that Lake Ontario has remained warmer than it normally would be, allowing for the continuation of lake-effect snowstorms once the cold weather returns.

And finally, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration will begin rating snowstorms in the Northeast immediately after they hit. This is to measure the impact of the storm, not to warn residents of an impending storm. The Northeast Snowfall Impact Scale, or NESIS, will rank storms as follows: 1 is Notable, 2 is Significant, 3 is Major, 4 is Crippling, and 5 is Extreme. There are also some examples of each ranking on the NOAA website. It will be interesting to see if people like ranking their snowstorms, or if it gives them something new to complain about!