BIG JANUARY SWINGS!

A very mild air mass combined with strong southerly winds and dry air propelled temperatures into the 40s and 50s Friday across parts of the Midwest. In Cedar Rapids the temperature got up to 58 degrees - the warmest January day since 1/29/2013!

Temperatures were not record breaking, but what is remarkable is where temperatures were 26 days ago. Temperatures bottomed out in the teens and 20s below zero and smashed records on the first of the year. Wind chills were in the negative 30s and 40s! Here's a look at a few records that were broken on Jan 1st.

So take the -24 degree low in Cedar Rapids on January first and compare it to the 58 high of Friday. That was a swing of 82 degrees in 26 days alone! The largest temperature difference we could find (shout out to Brandon Marshall for the assist) was an 84 degree swing in January of 1897. That year there was a low of -21 and a high temperature of 63.

Lots of numbers, but overall a very impressive temperature range has occurred this month. And more swings are coming!

Temperatures will be mild once again on Saturday, but not quite as high as Friday.

A cold front will move through late Saturday and drop temperatures back closer to normal Sunday and Monday --

There will be a small bump in temperatures during the middle of next week. Then we've been talking for a while about temperatures cooling way back down during the beginning of February.

What a remarkable place for weather! RK