January cold not historic.
Parting cold shot not as severe; still this will be coldest January in a decade.
In a mild surprise, the temperature at Philadelphia International Airport shot up to 42 this morning, breaking a streak of subfreezing temperatures that began at 3 a.m. last Tuesday, before the snow.
That will bump up today's average temperature a bit more than expected, and the imminent isn't looking quite as extreme as it was in earlier model runs.
Still, enough Arctic air should burrow into the region to make this the coldest January since 2004, with an average temperature about 28, or roughly 5 degrees below the 30-year normals.
Given all the attention paid to the attacks of the "polar vortex," one might have thought that this has been one of the coldest periods in the history of western civilization.
It certainly has been colder than the balmy Januaries of last year and the year before, but it is come to be just a shade cooler than January 2010 in the heart of the record-snowy winter.
On the subject of snow, the totals for the white stuff this month have been more impressive than the temperatures.
To date, 24.7 inches have been measured at Philadelphia International Airport/National Park, the fourth-snowiest January in records dating to 1884.
We have mentioned the volatility in the day-to-day forecasts, but as of now, 24.7 is expected to be the final monthly total.