Even though a slightly cooler December broke a record streak of warm weather, 2016 will go down as one of the warmest on record.
Lincoln's average temperature for the year was 55 degrees, 3.4 degrees above normal, making it the fourth-warmest year on record, said Ken Dewey, applied climate science professor at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.
The year included the third-warmest June and the fourth-warmest November.
"What stands out most is the warmth," Dewey said Monday.
June was the warmest month of the year, which is unusual, because that honor generally goes to July, he said.
Other notable aspects of 2016 weather included the May 9 hailstorm and tornado in Lincoln -- the first confirmed tornado in the city limits since the 1950s, Dewey said.
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Also notable was the lack of snow. Lincoln went nearly 10 months -- Feb. 5 to Dec. 3 -- with no more than a trace of snow. And Dewey said the year's total of 14.8 inches was more than 11 inches below normal.
And that contributed to the warmth factor, he said.
"Without the snow cover, we can't get the cold."
Lincoln did record nearly two weeks of below-average temperatures in early to mid-December.
A cold snap started Dec. 7 and included nine days out of 13 on which the high didn't reach the freezing point and another nine days when the low was in the single digits or below.
On Dec. 20, the pattern flipped, giving Lincoln above-average temperatures 12 days in a row; nine of those days had highs at least in the 40s.
That included a high of 60 degrees on Christmas, the third-highest temperature ever recorded on the date. Lincoln set a record with 0.92 inches of rain that day as well.
But the warm spell wasn't enough to keep December from falling below normal; average temperature for the month, 26.6 degrees, fell just below the overall average of 26.8 degrees.
That broke a 15-month streak and all-time record of above-average temperatures.
On Day 2 of 2017, Van DeWald, chief meteorologist at the National Weather Service in Valley, said January started with slightly above-normal temperatures. That will change by Day 3, when a cold snap should send highs down into the low 20s before dropping into the teens Thursday. Nighttime lows will be in the single digits.
Monday was wet and gray across the state, with icy roads in the central and west. In Lincoln, the temperature hovered in the mid- to upper 30s and streets stayed wet, not slick.
DeWald said the forecast for the rest of winter is pretty average, with equal chances of being colder or warmer than normal.
"It could go either way," he said. "There's no defining pattern."
In the short term, however, temperatures will be below normal.
The lack of snow is likely to continue, as forecasters see no chance in the Lincoln area the rest of the week.