It’s only this time of the year that you can see 10 degrees and 70 in the same week. That appears to be the case as temperatures warm to near record levels on Monday. With forecasted highs near 70 degrees, we’ll be only two degrees shy of the record for the date, 72 degrees set in 1907. Of course this unseasonable warmth is coming on the heels of the coldest temperatures we’ve seen in about a year. Last week we saw a low of 10 degrees on Wednesday with a wind chill that went well below zero.

January is known for its wild swings in temperature. No month of the year has seen a more extreme range in temperatures. In fact, the all time record low temperature in Louisville was set just a few years ago back in January of 1994 with a bone chilling 22 degrees below zero! Compare that to the all time January record high temperature of 79 degrees set in 1943. Take the difference between these two numbers and you get the absolute range of January temperatures here in Louisville, which happens to be an astonishing 101 degrees!

Looking ahead, it does not appear as if the warmth will last much longer. A cold front due to arrive on Tuesday will bring us a good bet for rain, maybe some thunderstorms and the start of a weeklong cool down. Temperatures may not escape the 30’s by the time the weekend comes around and there does appear to be a chance of snow on Sunday.

Needless to say, it will be another wild week of weather here in Kentuckiana. Stay tuned.