Adam Johnson sat in his shirtsleeves Tuesday afternoon outside a downtown restaurant, taking in the bright sun and seemingly unaware there are still two months left in winter.

“It’s absolutely spectacular,” Johnson said of temperatures that soared near 60 degrees. “We’re all Rollerbladers … now we can spend our days in the streets and not have to worry about shoveling snow.”

There’s been precious little winter this winter. Meteorologists on Tuesday said January’s average high temperature in Lawrence had been 50.9 degrees – 11 degrees higher than usual.

“We’ve just basically been in a weather pattern that allows us to keep the cold air up in Canada, for the most part,” said Gordon Strassberg, a scientist with the National Weather Service in Topeka.

So far, Strassberg said, the temperature has climbed above 50 degrees on 12 days in January, including four days above 60. During January 2005, there were just four days above 50 degrees.

Folks young and old are taking advantage of recent unseasonably warm temperatures in the Lawrence area. On Tuesday afternoon, Olivia Wood, 2, climbed up the slide at South Park with the help of her mother, Mara Wood. The springlike conditions will continue today, when the temperature is forecast to climb to 55 degrees.

The warm, dry weather has made for a busy wildfire season in southeast Kansas.

“Windy days like today contribute to that, too,” Strassberg said.

In October, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said Kansas and the rest of the Midwest would experience a warmer-than-normal winter, thanks to rising temperatures in the Atlantic Ocean.

“A lot of times these types of ocean (warming) can affect the jet stream over North America,” Mike Halpert, head of forecast operations for the climate prediction center at NOAA, said at the time.

The high temperatures mean that natural gas customers – who had been expected to pay record heating bills this winter – are getting some relief. But Linda Lassen, director of human resources at Penn House, said she hadn’t seen any reduction in requests for utility bill assistance for Lawrence’s poor.

“I don’t think it makes any difference,” Lassen said. “We have to go through past dues and stuff. We had that one cold spell in December, and people are still trying to catch up from that.”

The warmth comes as a relief, though, to Lawrence residents who like to spend their time outdoors.

“I ride my bike around town, so it’s nice,” said Jeremy Stephenson, who sat outside Mirth restaurant, 745 N.H., with Johnson. “I don’t have to get frostbite on my fingers.”

Matt Sayers, a 6News meteorologist, said temperatures will cool a bit in February but should still remain warmer and drier than normal.

Winter, he said, isn’t over yet.

“We’re still going to get a few cold snaps,” Sayers said.