Warm January feeling more like spring

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) - Many Midwesterners hope for a January thaw, when the temperatures briefly inch above freezing, but this winter, some are wondering if the thaw will ever end.

Temperatures have been higher than average for most of the winter, and in the past week they soared into the 50s and record-setting 60s in parts of Iowa and Nebraska.

It has been a welcome, if somewhat bewildering, change from recent frigid, snowy Januaries.

"I think it's crazy," said Charlie McInroy, 20, of Des Moines, who spent part of Thursday golfing, dressed in shorts and a T-shirt.

He was joined by more than 100 others at Blank Golf Course in Des Moines.

Among them was Rick Elkin, 63, of Des Moines, who admitted to playing hooky from his job to get in a round of golf.

"Incredible isn't it?" he said. "If I never saw another flake (of snow) it be would fine with me. This is perfect."

Elkin likely won't see any snow for at least the coming week, said Kevin Deitsch, a forecaster with the National Weather Service in Des Moines. Temperatures likely will fall a bit, but they will remain in the 40s for much of the next seven to 10 days, well above the normal of 31 for this time of year.

And there is no significant chance of snow on the horizon.

Although the spring-like temperatures are pleasant, they could be followed by weather more common to the Upper Midwest, said Harry Hillaker, the state climatologist with the Iowa Department of Agriculture.

Hillaker said history indicates that a warm December and January are often followed by a colder-than-average February and March.

One extreme example was in early 1989, when very warm January weather came to an abrupt end in February, when the weather turned brutally cold.

That year, the average temperature in February was 15.2 degrees lower than in January, causing the "largest drop between two consecutive months on record," Hillaker said.

In Shenandoah, Iowa, that year, the temperature reached 70 degrees on Jan. 31 but fell to 11 the next morning and dropped to minus 14 on Feb. 3.

"Sometimes you do get payback in a big way," Hillaker said.

Mark Slobotski, owner of Executive Lawn and Landscaping in Omaha, said snow removal accounts for about one-third of his business, but he's not overly concerned.

"I've been doing this long enough that I'm not worried yet," Slobotski said

The warm weather has enabled his employees to tackle a few landscaping jobs that usually wouldn't be possible this time of year. And eventually, he said, the weather will change.

"It's Nebraska. We're going to get snow," Slobotski said.