At the beginning of the year, it was extremely warm, the usual January cold did not set in, and on January 18 and 19, a new round of exceptional temperatures awaits us. When was January unusually warm before? Where and when was it above 20 degrees?

ANM’s forecast shows that Wednesday and Thursday will be +20 degrees in Bucharest.

In some areas, the temperature in January can exceed 20 degrees. In the last century this happened quite rarely, but after 2000 the situation changed and January was always warmer.

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Oravice, Calafat, Campina, Tirgovishte, Curtia de Arges and Craiova are among the few cities where temperatures in January can exceed 20 degrees. At the beginning of 2023 there were also places like Radeuci where it was over 20 degrees for the first time.

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When January was the warmest in the last 100 years

1921 year

In Iasi on January 13, it was +16.7 degrees.

1936 year

It was +14.5 degrees in Cluj, +14 in Tirgu Mures and +18 in Sulin. It was +18.4 degrees Celsius in Buzeu.

1939 year

On January 19, it was +20.6 in Campina. It was +17.1 degrees in Oradea, and +15.3 degrees in Deva.

1949 year

In Vf Omu on January 7, it was +5.6 C, the record is still valid today. +18.3 C was recorded in Redeuka, the then record was broken only at the beginning of 2023 (+20.2 C).

1960 year

In Parskov (Buzeu) in January it was +19.4 C.

1975 year

It was +14 degrees in Predyal in mid-January.

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1979 year

At the end of the month, it was +17.4 degrees in Timisoara.

1980 year

Mierkurya Chuk had +12 C in January, with six nights with a minimum below -25 C.

1984 year

On January 2, it was +20.4°C in Calafat, +19 in Campina, and +18.2 in Calarasi (a day later). In Bacau it was +18.2 C. Also in January in Suceava it was +15.

1988 year

On January 7, it was +18 in Constanta, and the day before in Patarlagele it was +18.6 degrees.

1989 year

January was the driest in 60 years. Across the country, rainfall was 87% below the six-decade average

1991 year

It was +4.5C at Omaha, while the country’s highest weather station rarely gets above -5C in general.

1993 year

In January, it was +20.5 degrees in Kalafat, +20 degrees in Patarlagele, +18.4 in Drobet, +18.7 and +17.3 in Galata.

1994 year

January was unusually warm with a deviation from the average of the last 60 years by +3.4 C.

1999 year

On January 7, at an altitude of 1500 in Sinai, it was +14.2°C.

2001 year

In Oravice on January 7 it was +22.2°C, which is an absolute record in the country for the first month of the year. It was +18.2 in Sibiu, +18 in Timisoara and +16.5 in Tg Mureș. It was +17.6 degrees in Bucharest. On January 8, it was +15 degrees in Predyal. In Oravitsa, at night after the daytime record, the minimum is +15.9 degrees.

2002 year

On January 29, it was +20.4°C in Craiova, +19.4°C in Pitesti, and +20.2°C in Tirgovishte a day later. The next day in Tirgu-Zhiu it was +20.6 degrees at 29 and 20 degrees.

2005 year

It was +20 degrees in Courtes de Arges on January 9. It was +15.7 degrees in Suceava after the middle of the month.

2007 year

That year, January was the warmest in the last 60 years, with an average national temperature of +5.1°C. There were an unusually high number of days with highs above +10 C: 19 in Bucharest

The maximum was in Calarasi +19.1, in Giurgi – +19, in Constanta – +18.3, in Iasi – +15.4, in Merkurya-Chuk – +11.9. On January 24, a minimum of +10 in Constanta.

2010 year

It was +16.2°C in Satu Mare, and +14.1 in Cluj and Oradea.

2015 year

At the Sinai weather station on January 14, it was +14.3 degrees, after the beginning of the month brought three days with maximums below -8 degrees. In 2023, the record will be exceeded by 2 degrees.

2022 year

On the first day of the year in Stolnich (Arjesh) it was +17.4, and on January 3 in Kalafat it was +18.1. The highest temperature was recorded on January 6: +18.9 C in Zimnych, and on the 5th it was very hot in Transylvania.

It was +14.9 degrees in Brasov, +16 in Fegaras, +13.3 in Merkurya-Chuk and +13.2 degrees in Intorsura-Buzeului. In these places, the temperature was 15 degrees above normal.

Also, on January 5, the maximum temperature was +18.3 degrees in Rymnik-Serat, +18.1 in Karancebes, +17.8 in Sibiu, +17.4 in Tirgu-Okna, +17.3 in Ploiesti and Lugoza, and over 17 degrees in Bacău and Resita.

2023 year

The highest temperature recorded in the country this year was +21.3 C in Pâtârlagele, 1.3 C above the 1993 record. Tirgovishte was +21.1 C, Campina was +20.8 C and Curtia de Arges was +20.6. C.

Places where the temperature above +20 C was measured for the first time in January: Radeuci, Botosani, Pitesti, Tirgu Okna

Sources: climate characteristics of ANM, TuTimepo and Infoclimat platforms