Temps lower than usual for start of New Year
According to Weather Service, temperatures should begin to normalize this week

By the time January rolls around, northern Arizona residents are used to the cold. But, if you've thought to yourself, 'it's been even colder than usual,' you're not wrong.

According to temperatures recorded at the Flagstaff airport, the month of December was on average 1.3 degrees cooler than normal.

These lower than average temperatures make last month the 27th coldest December on record at the Flagstaff branch of the National Weather Service. The agency has kept statistics since 1898.

The first week of January wasn't much different from the second half of December, with most days not warming up much beyond the freezing mark.

"Early [this] week we will start to see a modest warming trend, pretty much getting back up to where we would normally be this time of year," said Chris Outler, meteorologist for the National Weather Service. "And so we're finally going to be seeing high temperatures rise back into the 40s, probably be seeing high temperatures starting to approach 45 by the time we get into Monday and Tuesday and low temperatures in the upper single digits to lower teens."

So northern Arizona residents can expect a little bit of a warming trend compared to recent temperatures. However, Outler said he does not see any warmer than average temperatures arriving in the foreseeable future.

"I don't see any above average streaks coming in anytime soon, but even getting back to average will be a nice treat from what we've had," said Outler.

Outler said the National Weather Service is not expecting any major snowfall this week, but it is something they're watching for because "it's very much up in the air right now."

Those hoping the current snow still on the ground will melt soon might be out of luck for a while as well.

"The snow might melt a little bit, but it's not going to be gone, especially this point of the year," Outler said. "The sun angle is still pretty low so it takes a while to melt off all that snow."

And plenty of snow has been accumulating.

More information and current forecasts are available on the National Weather Service website at www.weather.gov.

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