Updraft® - Minnesota Weather News

That's a wrap, January! Despite extremes, most temps averaged near normal

Another month of below-average precipitation

Blue sky at the Weather Lab
Blue sky, no snow cover and record temperatures Wednesday southwest of Minneapolis
Paul Huttner | MPR News

Our first month of 2025 is in the books, so let’s examine how January went weather-wise.

Large temperature swings

January saw large temperature swings, from the arctic blast Jan. 18-21 to a record warm 47 degrees on Jan. 28 and an even warmer 52 degrees on Thursday.

Despite these extremes, the overall temperatures ended up close to the monthly average of 16.2 degrees. Our lows were below average, though, at 6.1 degrees, compared to the typical minimum of 8.8.

January averages
Twin Cities January 2025 temperature averages
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Regional Climate Center Program

Looking at the average maximum temperature departures for January, most of the state stayed pretty close to normal. The exception was in northeastern Minnesota, where temperatures were below average, and southwestern Minnesota, which saw above-average temps.

January 2025 average high temperature across the Midwest
January 2025 average high temperature across the Midwest
Midwestern Regional Climate Center

Lacking precipitation

We don’t need to stare at any monthly weather summaries to know our January has been dry.

Typically, we get 11 inches of snow, but this month we only saw a mere 1.7 inches. Total precipitation was just 13 one-hundredths of an inch, falling 73 one-hundredths of an inch short of the average.

After our latest warm spell, northern Minnesota is the state’s only region with existing snow depth.

Daily station snow depth as of January 31st
Daily station snow depth as of Friday
Midwestern Regional Climate Center

Plenty of sunshine

January definitely gave us a healthy dose of Vitamin D, with 13 days of clear skies, 13 partly cloudy, and just 5 days of cloudy weather. Not a bad way to kick off the year!

Now if we could just get some snowfall for February.