Happy New Year's, Friends.  If you looked back on the year and through all the nostalgia you thought to yourself "You know what? This year was as hot as I can remember." -- You were right.  Preliminary numbers have come out from the National Weather Service, and you guessed it, 2011 was the hottest year ever recorded for Bryan / College Station along with many other cities in not only the Brazos Valley but the State of Texas.  To add insult to injury, this past year also came in as the 3rd driest on record.

You can read the complete preliminary report from the National Weather Service here and expect the official list to come out around January 12th.

New Year, Chillier Air 

After our New Year's cold front, sunny skies are back in place -- and look to stick around through much of this first week of the year.  High pressure sliding down the plains will aid in temperatures tumbling below freezing for all by sunrise on Tuesday morning.  With that being said, everyone will want to think about plants and pets before heading to bed tonight.  Our northeastern counties may want to use a little protection on the pipes as well with lows possible down in the mid 20s along with 3 to 5 hours of sub-freezing temperatures.  

The first true cold snap for the country is happening across the Eastern side of the US today.  In fact, some locations -- like Florida -- are facing some of the coldest air they have seen since last January.

January Means Warming?

Well...kind of.  From January 1 to January 31, our normal highs and lows typically increase by 1° -- climatology speaking, of course.  As we all know, weather is anything but normal in the Brazos Valley...and this is the time of the year when a cold snap or two manages to sink all the way down into Texas, so we'll wait and see how this month plays out.