Wunderground.com - Christopher C. Burt - 2/07/13
The EF-3 strength Adairsville, Georgia tornado resulted in two fatalities near the town. These were the first tornado-related deaths to occur in the U.S. in 219 days, the longest stretch of no deaths due to tornadoes in U.S. records. Photo by wunderground weather user fshelton25, taken on I-75 near Adairsville on January 30th.
January was notable for extreme heat, wild fires, and floods in Australia, record heat in southern Africa and Patagonia while a cold wave was endured in India and China. The U.S. saw a massive tornado outbreak and record warm temperatures ahead of the system that spawned the severe weather.
Below are some of the month’s highlights.
NORTH AMERICA
A massive early season severe weather outbreak spawned at least 55 tornadoes from Oklahoma to Georgia on January 29-30th killing at least two and destroying hundreds of homes. The complex storm system also ushered in the coldest air of the season (temperatures fell to -42°F/-41.1°C in Embarrass, Minnesota) and heavy snowfall over Iowa and Wisconsin. Ahead of the front, several all-time record monthly high temperatures were reported. See my recent blog for more details. Most notably, Laredo, Texas heated up to 94°F (34.4°C) on January 28th breaking its previous monthly record of 93°F (33.9°C) set on January 3, 1971. The all-time Texas state heat record is 98°F (36.7°C) set at Zapata in January 1997. A bit further south the temperature soared to an amazing 39.4°C (103°F) at Ciudad Victoria, Tamaulipas State, Mexico about 200 miles south of Laredo.
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