January 2003 brought a few unseasonably warm days the 1st, 9th and 21st, mixed in with more days of typical chilly unseasonably cold weather. The coldest periods were from the 11th to the 13th; the 15th to the 18th; and the 23rd to the 26th. Overall the month was drier than normal, and the average overall temperatures was slightly below normal. Many foggy conditions came in the night and morning, helped by not only moisture return after cold fronts, also the wet soil conditions left by plentiful autumn rains.

2003 began sunny and mild, as afternoon highs rose to the 70s from early morning lows in the 30s. Brisk northerly winds brought cooler conditions the night of the 1st and left afternoon highs 10 to 15 degrees cooler the 2nd. Mostly clear skies prevailed the 2nd, and continued the 3rd and 4th, with cold early morning lows and mild afternoon highs. Increasing clouds came back the 5th, finally turning overcast the night of the 5th and early morning of Monday the 6th, with considerable cloudiness and patchy fog. Partly cloudy conditions came the 7th, with warmer afternoon highs in the 60s to lower 70s. On the 9th, morning cloudiness became mostly sunny to partly cloudy by the afternoon with highs warming to the 70s to low 80s. The warm and breezy afternoon of the 9th, turned into cold and windy the 10th, as a cold front came through the night of the 9th and morning of the 10th, making daytime highs 15 to 25 degrees colder on Friday the 10th.

The first of a cloudy, cold, and wet weekend came the 11th and 12th. Clouds returned the night of the 10th, ahead of a weather system that brought the first rain event for 2003 on the 11th and 12th. As the weekend ended, clouds prevailed on the 13th, and continued most of the 14th. An Arctic Cold front that swept through the area on the 16th. The surge of Arctic Air brought some of the coldest for the Fall 2002/Winter 2003 season as of January 18th, at many locations, although a few places got a little colder the 24th. Clear skies prevailed the 17th and 18th, and stayed around most of the day on Sunday the 19th. Clouds developed very quickly the night of the 19th. Areas of fog prevailed in the morning of the 20th and 21st.

Another cold front came through the area on the night of the 22nd and morning of the 23rd. Much colder and windy conditions followed again, with the 2nd Arctic Cold front of the month. Another hard freeze came on the morning of the 24th, and clear skies prevailed. It was not nearly as cold as the 17th and 18th at many locations; however a few places did get a little colder. At Austin Camp Mabry the low of 26 on the 24th was 1 degree below the low of 27 on the 18th.

The second cloudy, cold, and wet weekend came the weekend of the 25th and 26th, as light rain and drizzle formed the 25th and affected the area again the night of the 25th and morning of the 26th. Fog was prevalent with the cold in the day of the 25th through the morning of the 26th. The cloud cover kept daytime highs around 40 to the 40s, except for Del Rio, where partial clearing the 26th allowed daytime highs to rise to the upper 50s.

In the week of the 26th to Friday the 31st, a slow warming trend began to take over, increasing the 28th, as afternoon highs warmed back to around 60 to the 60s. Morning Fog was prevalent also on Monday and Tuesday of the last week of January, and for part of the early morning hours of Wednesday the 29th. On the 30th clouds remained until the afternoon when partly cloudy to clear conditions showed up. Fog formed the night of the 30th and early morning of the 31st. Partly cloudy to mostly sunny conditions followed the afternoon of the 31st, when afternoon highs rose to the upper 60s to mid 70s.

Overall January 2003 was slightly cooler than normal and drier than normal. Unlike the active period from September through December, severe weather activity was almost non existantant.

The latest 30 day outlook for February 2003 from the National Center of Environmental Prediction calls for the Average Temperature to be below normal and for Precipitation to be Above Normal over Central and South Central Texas. The latest 3 Month or 90 Day Outlook for February 2003 to April 2003 calls for Below Normal Temperatures and Above Normal Precipitation over Central and South Central Texas. These latest 30 day and 90 day Outlooks were issued on Thursday, December 19, 2002, from the National Center of Environmental Prediction. To see the latest 30 and 90 day Monthly/Seasonal Outlooks Go to the Latest 30 and 90 Day Monthly/Seasonal Forecast from the National Center of Environmental Prediction. 

Note: These 30 day outlooks are based primarily on climate phenomena that exhibit a relatively large degree of predictability such as the El Nino/Southern Oscillation (ENSO) cycle, as well as decade-to-decade variability and trends. Extra tropical circulation patterns on monthly to seasonal time scales [such as the North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO)] also significantly impact the monthly and seasonal temperature and precipitation patterns, sometimes distorting expected ENSO-related patterns. However, since the long-range predictability of these extra tropical circulation patterns is very limited, they are not explicitly represented in the extended-range forecasts. To take these uncertainties into account, probabilities of temperature and precipitation are decreased (increased) in regions where the variability associated with these patterns is large (small).