For most of January, students have been able to enjoy the unusual warm winter weather, but snow is set for Wednesday.

“January came in like a lamb, but it’s going out like a lion. All that lovely weather we’ve enjoyed so far will give way,” local weather observer Dalias Price said Monday.

Moist and cold weather that is building up in the north will come down to produce slush and snow in Charleston, Price noted.

However, the temperature high on Monday was 65 degrees, Price said.

The record breaking temperature for yesterday was in 1914 when temperatures reached 68 degrees. The lowest record temperatures for yesterday was 13 degrees below zero in 1936.

“That’s quite a contrast,” Price said, who remembers that day back in 1936. “It was so cold, a whole week of bitter weather. I was a senior at U of I.”

While Price estimates that this month won’t be record breaking, he still doesn’t know for sure.

“I’ve been working with data, but I don’t have all that data,” he said.

Normal temperatures at this time in January are highs of 36 degrees, with lows of 17 degrees. Yesterday morning it was 41 degrees, Price said.

“That is almost record breaking,” he said.

Despite the fact that Groundhog Day is this Saturday, Price doesn’t think the groundhog’s prediction will be an accurate estimate of our future forecasts.

“That’s an old weather proverb that has no validity. People love to talk about it,” Price said, who guesses the groundhog will “stay in his shadow.”

One year the weather is one way, the next year it’s another way, Price said. “We have to remember that February is a winter month and March is a late winter month. We’ll just have to be patient.”