beavis1729

Of course it’s still early, but I’ve been seeing some hints at a modoki El Niño for DJF, which in theory would be good for many of us. There’s a recent post in the mid-Atlantic forum winter thread on this. Not sure how to link to the image on mobile.

Per NWS Anchorage, I think the official site (Ted Stevens airport) hit 90. Previous all time record high was 85...and, on average, Anchorage only hits 80 once every 4 years. This is crazy.

Glad you’re ok Jonger. Took my son snowmobiling for the first time last weekend, around the Bergland / Ontonagon / Silver City area in the UP. Beautiful area and great trail conditions. Did about 120 miles. About 20 degrees in the day and 5 at night. There was about 2-3 feet on the ground...it was before the recent big storm.

Yeah, not a good pattern for the next couple weeks, it appears. Frustrating as ****, but I guess it’s still early. I have a trip planned in late January to take my son snowmobiling for the first time, in northern WI. Can’t wait.

Not sure if this is the appropriate thread...but the dewpoint at Barrow (Utqiagvik) AK hit 58 yesterday. That is shocking to me...at 71.3N, right on the Arctic Ocean.

Good catch on ND. I updated the list (and OH too, per the other post). Christmas Eve 1983 must have been a great night for the good folks of Williston to sit in front of the fireplace and enjoy the holiday spirit. Those are some good old-fashioned winter conditions...wow.

Yeah, I was 9 years old for the December 1983 arctic outbreak, living in the Chicago suburbs. It’s my first weather memory.

Good catch...the -52 seems legitimate. I updated the list (1st post of the thread). Same with your comments upthread for HI, OR, WA, MA.

Nice. That is an insane airmass...-23 in Akron OH with a 21 mph wind out of the SW. Wow...

Very rarely in that part of the world. In fact, they hardly ever occur even in the Chicago area...where winter temps average about 6-8 degrees colder than northern KS. As an example...despite the fact that 1/6/2014 was a brutally cold and windy day in northern IL, wind chills "only" dropped to around -45.

Good find. In those hourlies, I see -21 with 16 mph wind, and -22 with 14 mph wind. Both result in a WC of -47. The intra-hour reading showed a 16 mph wind, but no temp to go along with it. Again, can't take it too seriously; part of the challenge and fun of science is putting the pieces together and finding/analyzing data. The planet has been around for a long time...I'm sure some of records will be broken in the next 50-100 years. Some of it depends on timing and having a better observation network now; we don't need to hope that the extreme events occur only at the major reporting stations. For example - if the record cold in Bartlesville, OK in Feb 2011 occurred a generation ago, we would have probably never known about it. Same with tropical storms in the middle of the Atlantic. Just part of the journey. I've updated the list in the first post of the thread; it's easier to keep track there.

Oops. I got it from this article...I guess they missed it. https://www.pressherald.com/2014/01/04/how_low_can_portland_temperatures_go__/

I poked around and looked for hourly temp/wind obs in Maine during late Feb 1943, but no luck so far. The -39 in Portland is even more shocking because, not only does it blow all other low temp readings out of the water in Portland...but it occurred relatively late in the season...on 2/26/1943. A cool 58 degrees below the 1981-2010 normal low of 19. Yikes.

Nice graphs...and for those interested in AK weather & climate, that Alaska-wx blog website is great. Wow, nearly every single day from Nov 2017 - Mar 2018 was above normal in Barrow (and these are recent normals, i.e. 1981-2010)...and many of those days were way way above normal. Perhaps it's not too surprising, as the persistently low amount of ice north of Barrow over the past 10-15 years significantly moderates the temps in Barrow due to E or NE flow...but still.

Ok, come on...this is not meant to be personal. All I'm trying to do is have a good list based on verifiable numbers. I'm a scientist, so it's important to have quality control of the data. It's not a personal vendetta. If others are estimated besides IN and KS, you're right that they shouldn't be on there either. It's a work in progress.

Ha...got to fill the summer downtime!!

These WC records are intended to be actual measured readings of temperature and sustained winds (even if intra-hour), not interpolated estimates based on winds at nearby areas, and not to fill in missing data.

Good catch - verified on wunderground hourly obs. I don't remember that cold snap - must have targeted New England instead of the Midwest.

I agree that WCs in Maine have dropped lower than -52...but I haven't been able to find a measured hourly/intra-hour number that can be verifiable. I looked at the locations and dates you mentioned, but no luck yet. Will keep looking!

The Farmer's Almanac data is actually using Duluth MN as an estimate for Superior WI, as it's the closest nearby station with reliable data. So, I only consider this an estimate for Superior.

This is great information and probably mirrors the general conditions in the area on these dates...but for purposes of WC records, I don't think it's good "quality control" to use estimated/mean #'s.

Yep, good point. I'll go with this number, as it appears to be reliable based on an actual measurement, as opposed to an estimate/interpolation based on mean winds at the time of the lowest temp.

Agree...but in this case, it seems to be actual reliable measured information...as opposed to an interpolated estimate or a guess based on mean winds (which some other numbers in this thread are based on). I'll go with -60 for the IL record.

Bonus fact The coldest wind chill on record in North America appears to be -108 in Pelly Bay, Nunavut on 1/13/1975. Temp -59 with winds of 34 mph. http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/the-science-of-wind-chill-1.819530

I added GA...I'm sure there has been a lower WC value in the NE GA mountains...but the -28 in Atlanta on 1/21/1985 was the lowest that I could verify. I updated MT, based on the all-time statewide min at Rogers Pass mentioned in the MT Climate Atlas: https://www.wrh.noaa.gov/tfx/climate/montatlas/MontanaAtlasToC.html Also, I revised the AK record, as I could not validate the -102 in Deadhorse on 1/28/1989. The lowest appears to be -100 in McGrath on 1/27/1989 (temp -72 with a 7 mph wind...one of Alaska's greatest cold waves on record). Here is a great write-up on the AK wind chill record...including comments on Mt. Washington: http://us-climate.blogspot.com/2014/12/us-national-wind-chill-record.html