Cold, hard facts to ponder on anniversary of coldest day ever

On the anniversary of the coldest temperature ever recorded in central Indiana, it’s fitting to look at the cold, hard facts of January.

It was on Jan. 19, 1994 that a temperature of -27 was recorded in central Indiana, according to National Weather Service records.

Putnam County registered some similar readings that day 24 years ago, particularly in rural areas like Reelsville but the official low temperature in Greencastle was 22 degrees below zero. That’s a cool 54 degrees below freezing.

The Indiana town of New Whiteland in Johnson County registered -36 degrees on a thermometer at its sewage plant that day.

Kind of makes January 2018 seem a little warmer now, doesn’t it?

Over the first 18 days of the month of January we’ve had six days above 32 degrees.

Two days this month have been above 50 degrees, while 13 days have lagged below the freezing mark and another seven days fell below zero.

Thursday also marked the sixth straight day that mercury failed to climb above the freezing mark in the area.

You might remember just a year ago that January was a walk on the mild side.

January 2017 was a much toastier proposition with 21 days producing above-average temperatures and 27 of the 31 days last year coming in above 32 degrees.

There were 10 days in January 2017 with temperatures above 50 degrees and even four days above 60.

A typical January in central Indiana produces an average high of 35.6 degrees and 8.6 inches of snow for the month. To date in central Indiana, only 3.6 inches of snow have been recorded.