Easterwood Field

College Station, Texas

Monthly Summary for January 1997


	TEMPERATURE      PRECIP.                       TEMPERATURE

  Day   Max  Min  *DEPART   TOTAL         MEANS           ACTUAL        DEPART.

   1    72   56     15        T           Maximum           57.6         -0.8
   2    75   63     20	 		  Minimum   	    39.3          0.6
   3    78   66     23	      T	          Monthly	    48.4         -0.1
   4    82   64     24                                  
   5    64   51     10                    EXTREMES          TEMP         DATE
                                          Highest            82F          4th
   6    51   36     -4     0.05           Lowest             23F         18th
   7    36   34    -13     0.17             
   8    36   30    -15     0.55           DEGREE DAYS       TOTAL        DEPART.
   9    51   31     -7                    Heating            531           9
  10    56   34     -3                    Cooling             19           8
                                          
  11    38   25    -17                     
  12    32   27    -19      0.15          PRECIPITATION      AMOUNT      DEPART.  
  13    29   26    -20      0.04          
  14    32   29    -18         T          Total Monthly        2.88       0.23
  15    60   32     -2         T          Total for 1996       2.88       0.23
                                          Precipitation Days      7         -2
  16    51   32     -6                
  17    41   26    -14                    EXTREMES           AMOUNT      DATE 
  18    50   23    -11                    24-hour Maximum      1.88    20th-21st
  19    62   34      0              
  20    61   50      7      0.95          MAXIMUM WIND GUST    36mph (27th)

  21    65   58     12      0.97          NUMBER OF DAYS     AMOUNT      DEPART.
  22    74   52     14                    TEMPERATURE
  23    71   52     13         T          Maximum 90 or higher    0        0
  24    77   53     16                    Maximum 32 or lower     3        2
  25    66   42      5                    Minimum 32 or lower    12        1

  26    73   44     10                         RECORD BOOK FOR JANUARY
  27    75   31      4         T          Highest Temperature     86F    1972
  28    42   26    -15                    Lowest Temperature      -3F    1949
  29    54   26     -9                    Wettest Month        15.60"    1991
  30    60   25     -6                    Driest Month          0.10"    1936
                                          Wettest 24 hours      5.63"    1991
  31    70   39      5


Temperature in degrees Fahrenheit
Precipitation in inches
"T" denotes less than or equal to 0.005"
BOLDFACE indicates extreme values for the month
ITALICS indicate a record was set or tied
* Departure of the daily mean temperature, as calculated from the average
of the maximum and minimum temperatures, from the 1961-1990 normals.













New Records Set

  DAY             PARAMETER                   VALUE    OLD RECORD       YEAR
   4th   Highest Maximum Temperature           82F        78F           1957  
  13th    Lowest Maximum Temperature           29F        32F           1982
  14rd    Lowest Maximum Temperature           32F        33F           1979



Near Records

  DAY             PARAMETER                   VALUE      RECORD         YEAR
   2nd  Tied Highest Minimum Temperature       63F        63F           1917
   3rd  2nd Highest Minimum Temperature        66F        69F           1950
   3rd  3rd Highest Maximum Temperature        78F        82F           1949
   4th  Tied 2nd Highest Minimum Temperature   64F        68F           1917
  12th  3rd Lowest Maximum Temperature         32F        25F           1918

Monthly Review

The average temperature for the month of January (48.4F) was near normal in the Brazos Valley even though a variety of extremes occurred. The month began unseasonably warm with temperatures well into the upper 70s and even 80s with overnight lows only in the middle 60s. By the 6th, a Pacific frontal system brought significant precipitation to Central Texas allowing temperatures to cool somewhat. Temperatures remained slightly below normal during the next week as the daily range in temperature on the 13th and 14th was only 3F. During this time, temperatures remained below freezing for 31 consecutive hours! The record for consecutive hours at or below freezing in College Station is 146 hours from 21-27 December, 1983. The majority of the January precipitation fell on the 20th and the 21st while temperatures remained slightly above normal before cooling off again towards the last few days of the month. 
February Normals for College Station

                           Temperature
Beginning of the month       59 / 39         Monthly Precipitation:      2.65"
Middle of the month          58 / 38         Precipitation days:            9
End of the month             60 / 39         90F Days                       0


Prepared by:    John F. Griffiths (State Climatologist)
                Karin L. Gleason (Assistant to the State Climatologist)
                kgleason@ariel.tamu.edu