January is normally the driest month of the year in Iowa, but not thisyear. State Climatologist Harry Hillaker says the new year has started out alot wetter than normal. The big rains that hit Iowa this week pushed Januaryprecipitation to just over one-and-a-half inches — about twice the normalfor January. Hillaker says some areas of the state saw rainfull of an inchor more this week. After an all-time record month for snowfall in December,Hillaker says the state returned to normal in January. Hillaker says Januarybrought a welcome warm up. The average temperature wastwenty-one-point-eight degrees, about 12 degrees above December’s averageand three-point-eight degrees above normal. Hillaker says normally,February is slightly warmer than January, and usually has a little moresnowfall too.