January weather not extraordinary

January began with a rare dose of snow and ended with a record day of rain, but overall, last month's weather in Seattle was pretty normal.

The month was only slightly colder and wetter than usual. According to the National Weather Service, the average temperature was 40.6 degrees, less than a degree below normal, and the rainfall was 6.36 inches, more than an inch above the historic average.

"It was a little wetter than normal, but nothing extraordinary," said Doug McDonnal, a Weather Service meteorologist. "All in all, this was a pretty typical January."

January is usually the coldest month of the year, and this winter's weather has been pretty average. After heavy flooding in October, November was wet and cold and December was drier and warmer, McDonnal said. "Looking at the last three months, overall it's been a wash."

The first week of January was cold, with patches of snow. On Jan. 4 and 5, temperatures dipped to a frosty 20 degrees. The snowstorms were the biggest to hit Seattle since 1996, McDonnal said.

On Jan. 29, 1.63 inches of rain fell, breaking a 40-year-old record for the date. The day tied for the warmest low temperature recorded on the date: 48 degrees.

The weather service predicts February's weather will also be more or less normal, but the first months of spring could be colder and wetter than usual.