January is the month we turn the cold-weather corner in Baltimore. We've passed the winter solstice, so days are getting longer, pouring more solar energy into the atmosphere and the oceans. But because the ocean is slower to warm up, average temperatures continue to fall for a while. The daily average high temperatures at BWI slip to 41 degrees by the 5th, and stall there until the 28th. But then they start rising again toward the return of spring.

Likewise, the average daily lows fall to 23 on the 11th, but they begin rising again by the 27th.

The records for the month are all over the place. The record high is 79 degrees, set on Jan. 14, 1932 and tied on Jan. 26, 1950. The record low is minus-7 degrees Fahrenheit, reached three times - on Jan. 17, 1982, Jan. 22, 1984, and Jan. 29, 1963. That's also the all-time record low for Baltimore.

The snowiest January day in Baltimore was on Jan. 28, 1922, when 23.3 inches was recorded in the city. It was the all-time heaviest 24-hour snowfall in the city's history. The so-called "Knickerbocker Storm," it struck even harder in Washington, D.C. The average snowfall for a January in Baltimore is 7 inches.