1/19/17
By: Bill Kinsland
(Sautee)- If you thought last weekend’s weather was unusually hot for the middle of January, you were right! In fact, the warm temperatures were well above normal and numerous new high-temperature records were set.
White County’s average high temperature for the four-day weekend was 67.5 degrees which was 17.4 degrees or 35 percent above the January normal of 50.1 degrees.
Many new individual day records were set. The hottest day was Friday the thirteenth when Cleveland’s high was 76, beating the 2014 record of 69 degrees. At Helen, the high was 71, overturning the previous record of 68 in 1996. At Sautee, the high temp was 73, breaking the
previous record of 64 set in 2000.
At Cleveland, all-time high records were set each day except Monday, breaking previous records set in 2007 and 2014.
At Helen, high temperatures broke previous records set in 1990, 1996 and 2016.
At Sautee, new records were set on all four days, breaking previous records set in 2000, 2004 and 2007.
What brought on this mid-winter heat wave? The WRWH news team reached out to several weather officials. Georgia State Climatologist Dr. Bill Murphy attributed it to “ one rather strong subtropical Gulf/Atlantic ridge over the past week or so.”
University of Georgia Agricultural Climatologist Pam Knox concurred saying “We are currently in a weather pattern which is basically a high amplitude wave, so that the eastern US is much above normal while the west is fairly cold.” She added “It’s not that unusual to have a warm period in mid-January, that’s what the January thaw is, but the magnitude of the high temps and the length of the warm spell is certainly unusual.”
National Weather Service Meteorologist George Wetzel pointed to the influence of weak La Nina conditions in the Pacific Ocean which set the stage for the current high-pressure system. Wetzel also added “we do have more unsettled weather expected this weekend and into next week meaning low pressure systems are on the way.”
Wednesday saw more record high temperatures with Cleveland recording a high of 72, breaking record high for this date of 64 set in 2010. Sautee also recorded a record high Wednesday with 69, that breaks a previous record of 57, set in 2002.
