Historic warmth across the U.S. was observed in just-ended January. The month of January has been unusually warm in 3 of the last 4 years based on NOAA U.S. gas population weight HDD anomaly observations.

The next high impact event is an incoming arctic air mass likely most intense over New York and New England tomorrow into Saturday as Wind Chill Warnings are posted. Trailing the arctic front wind gusts to 40-50 mph can cause power outages arriving at a time when wind chill index is routinely 20F to 50F below zero.

A warmer than normal Gulf of Mexico implies low-level atmosphere moisture levels are abundant. When southerly flow from the Gulf interacts with mid-latitude storms heavy precipitation is likely centered on the East-central U.S. for late winter and into spring.

Where it rains, it pours is thematic of the Jan. 22-28 rainfall pattern across South America soybean, wheat and corn growing areas. Up to 4 in. of rain was observed in far northwestern Argentina and a small area near the Uruguay state line. However, forecasts are dry again for the Argentina drought region the next 10 days.