Ski resort Javorník, January 5, 2023 in Liberec.
Prague – This year's January in the Czech Republic was one of the warmest in 62 years. With an average temperature of two degrees Celsius, it ranked third to fourth in the temperature series since 1961, January 1975 had the same average monthly temperature. The first months of the year were warmer in 1983 and 2007. In terms of precipitation, this January was normal, he said in the press release of the Czech Hydrometeorological Institute (ČHMÚ).
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“January 2023 in the Czech Republic was strongly above normal in terms of temperature, the average monthly air temperature of two degrees Celsius was 3.4 degrees higher than the normal from 1991 to 2020,” meteorologists said.
The warmest January so far was recorded 16 years ago, when it was 3.1 degrees on average. It was also warmer than this year in January 1983, the average daily temperature then was 2.2 degrees. On the contrary, the coldest January, according to the ČHMÚ, was in 1963, with an average monthly temperature of minus 8.9 degrees.
There were no differences in the average temperature between the western and eastern half of the Czech Republic this January. The average temperature in the territory of Bohemia and in the territory of Moravia and Silesia was exactly two degrees, meteorologists said.
According to them, the warmest January day was New Year's Day, with a deviation of more than nine degrees from the normal from 1991 to 2020. “On this day, the absolute maximum for the month of January was exceeded. The maximum daily air temperature of 19.6 degrees was measured at the Javorník station (Jesenik district) Celsius. They measured only 0.2 degrees less at the České Budějovice station. More than 18 degrees were measured on this day by another 12 stations under the administration of the ČHMÚ,” meteorologists said, adding that in the last decade of the month, average daily temperatures returned to normal.
The coldest was January 29, with a deviation of almost minus three degrees from normal. Meteorologists measured the lowest January temperature this year on January 25 at the station Kořenov, Jizerka – the thermometer there showed minus 16.6 degrees. “If we also consider stations outside the standard CHMÚ network, the lowest minimum daily air temperature of minus 18.8 degrees was at the Jelení u mostu station on January 19,” the meteorologists noted, recalling that the historically lowest January daily temperature was on January 24, 1942, when in Chlum near Třebon it was minus 36.2 degrees.
At the beginning of this year, according to the ČHMÚ, the continuous snow cover in the Czech Republic was only in some places on the mountain ridges in the north and northeast of the country, because it rained more because of the above-average heat. The situation improved in the second half of January, when a continuous snow cover appeared over a larger area of the republic.
“Precipitation-wise, January was normal in the Czech Republic, the monthly precipitation total of 42 millimeters represents 95 percent of the normal for the years 1991 to 2020. Precipitation were spatially very unevenly distributed,” the meteorologists added, adding that there was more precipitation in the Zlín and Moravian-Silesian regions, while there were few in South Bohemia and Pilsen.
