beavis1729

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

Yeah...-46 with 92 mph winds is a -107 WC. I can relate to the "walk backwards days"...those are some hardcore conditions. I can remember 2 days like this in N IL over the past 25 years: 1/18/1994 in college, walking across campus early in the morning with temps around -22 with wind gusts in the 20s...at least it was bright and sunny! Also, 1/6/2014 IMBY in the NW suburbs of Chicago...with a temp of -17 and WC in the -40s...and cloudy skies with a foot of snow on the ground. Amazing how much more arctic-like it feels when it's cloudy during those cold conditions...even though of course the temp was probably held up a bit since there wasn't much radiational cooling.

That's impressive for VA. The more I read about it, it seems like the January 1985 arctic outbreak may not be matched for 100+ years in some locations.

Thank you, and I appreciate the Maine info. Ding ding ding! The WC in Caribou hit -52 on 1/18/1982 (temp -25 with 16 mph sustained winds from the SW ). Not bad. The other dates you mentioned saw wind chills ranging from -45 to -51 in Caribou. Let's go with -52 for the Maine record, for now.

Good catch...and it's mentioned again here...although it (incorrectly?) says February instead of January. http://www.unionleader.com/Not-a-record,-but-windchill-on-Mount-Washington-hits--97 Since the modern wind chill algorithm went into use in 2000, the coldest wind chill atop Mount Washington was minus 107 in February 2004 when the air temperature was minus 44. Also, this link (see Slide 14 of 16 of the slideshow embedded in the article): http://www.wmur.com/article/photos-mount-washington-extreme-weather-facts/5133412 However, on Wikipedia and in a separate article, it mentions -103: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mount_Washington_(New_Hampshire) http://knowbefore.weatherbug.com/2015/01/21/mount-washington-home-worlds-worst-weather/ On January 16, 2004, the summit weather observation registered a temperature of −43.6 °F (−42.0 °C) and sustained winds of 87.5 mph (140.8 km/h), resulting in a wind chill value of −102.59 °F (−74.77 °C) at the mountain I also saw Tamarack's post about the possibility of even colder wind chills on 1/8/1968 or late Dec. 1962...but I haven't been able to verify the WC at any moment on these dates. Here is a note about 1/8/1968 (the -150 WC estimate is on the old scale): http://articles.courant.com/1999-01-16/features/9901180664_1_chris-uggerholt-mount-washington-wind-chill/2 Jan. 8, 1968, is considered one of the worst weather days on record. The wind averaged 92 mph while the temperature ranged from 38 below zero to 46 below zero. That translated to an estimated still-air temperature of minus 150. An observer who went up in the tower that day to tend to the instruments returned with his eyelashes frozen shut.

Thanks again KK - good finds. I'll update the list & numbers in a subsequent post. Amazing how often January 1985 is appearing on the list. Although that cold wave was brutal, it was short-lived...but then again, so are most cold waves in this part of the world. ORD high/low temps: 1/18/85: 24/10 1/19/85: 10/-22 1/20/85: -5/-27 1/21/85: 18/-5 1/22/85: 19/10 1/23/85: 24/15

It looks like Presidio and Midland both hit 110+ during the recent heat wave. I am not too familiar with TX climo...but that seems incredibly hot, especially for fairly early in the "hot" season.

Thanks for the info and documentation, KK. Impressive numbers in Waterloo on Christmas Eve 1983. While the difference between -40 and -55 WCs may not be that noticeable, I think there is a huge difference between WCs in the -40s vs. the -20s. Most winters, we have a few days with wind chills in the -20s, which is generally tolerable. Once you hit a -40 WC, it's a different world. The last bitter air I experienced was 1/6/2014, when ORD hit -16...and IMBY it was -17 with 25 mph sustained winds, creating wind chills in the -40s. Temps stayed in the -10 to -15 range during much of the afternoon and evening, and there was a foot of snow on the ground. It looked like the arctic tundra.

Fun times. My first weather memory is the December 1983 arctic outbreak, when I was 9. For some reason, I don't remember January 1985...when ORD hit -27. I wasn't enough of a cold weenie then...

Good stuff! Thanks Blackjack.

For Las Vegas, I wonder what their lowest relative humidity on record is. Yesterday at 2:00 PM, it was 99/-1, which translates to a RH of 2%.

This is very interesting: Record Cold in Arctic Canada http://ak-wx.blogspot.com/2017/03/record-cold-in-arctic-canada.html#comment-form

There is some incredible warmth in northern Alaska now. There is only one day on record between October 25 and April 13 where the high temps at Barrow, Deadhorse, and Kotzebue were all above 35F...and that day was January 1, 2017. Crazy... http://ak-wx.blogspot.com/2017/01/extremely-warm-day-in-arctic-alaska.html

Wow, that's crazy. 9 degrees and heavy snow, with insane winds.

Agree - Fairbanks and many other places in AK are challenging to forecast for. Here is a very informative Alaska weather blog that may interest you: http://ak-wx.blogspot.com/?m=1

Time to revive this thread after 2 years While winter is nowhere to be found in the lower 48...it looks like some deep winter cold will occur in Alaska toward Christmas. Fairbanks could hit -40. SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE FAIRBANKS AK 543 AM AKST SUN DEC 20 2015 AKZ222-202115- MIDDLE TANANA VALLEY- INCLUDING...FAIRBANKS...FORT WAINWRIGHT...EIELSON AFB...ESTER... NORTH POLE...MOOSE CREEK...TWO RIVERS...FOX...CHATANIKA... CHENA HOT SPRINGS...SOURDOUGH CAMP 543 AM AKST SUN DEC 20 2015 ...VERY COLD LATER THIS WEEK IN FAIRBANKS... AN ARCTIC COLD FRONT ALONG THE BROOKS RANGE IS EXPECTED TO MOVE SOUTH OF FAIRBANKS ON TUESDAY. TEMPERATURES ARE EXPECTED TO FALL TO 30 BELOW ZERO BY WEDNESDAY WITH 40 BELOW POSSIBLE BY THURSDAY.

If I'm reading this correctly, Healy AK had an 81-degree temperature increase in 24 hours. PUBLIC INFORMATION STATEMENT NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE FAIRBANKS AK 1100 AM AKST FRI NOV 22 2013 PUBLIC INFORMATION STATEMENT DRAMATIC TEMPERATURE INCREASES AND FLUXUATIONS FELT ACROSS THE INTERIOR AS A RESULT OF STRONG SOUTHERLY FLOW THROUGH THE ALASKA RANGE. HERE ARE A FEW EXAMPLES....TIIMES REPRESENT A 24 HOUR CHANGE HEALY.....................UP 81 DEGREES...41 BELOW TO 40ABOVE...FOLLOWED SEVERAL HOURS LATER BY A RAPID DROP OF 32 DEGREES IN UNDER 4 HOURS. ANTLERCREEK..............UP 55 DEGREES....14 BELOW TO 41 ABOVE....FOLLOWED SEVERAL HOURS LATER BY A RAPID DROP OF 36 DEGREES JUST 30 MINUTES AFTER THE WINDS SHIFTED FROM SOUTHEAST TO NORTHWEST. MCKINLEY PARK.............UP 59 DEGREES....27 BELOW TO 32 ABOVE. GOLDSTREAM CREEK..........UP 41 DEGREES....37 BELOW TO 5 ABOVE. FAIRBANKS INT AIRPORT.....UP 39 DEGREES....25 BELOW TO 14 ABOVE. EIELSON AFB...............UP 53 DEGREES....38 BELOW TO 15 ABOVE.

SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE ANCHORAGE AK 945 AM AKST FRI NOV 15 2013 ...A PATTERN CHANGE WILL PLUNGE MAINLAND ALASKA INTO A DEEP FREEZE... THE RECENT LARGE SCALE WEATHER PATTERN HAS BEEN CHARACTERIZED BY A PERSISTENT RIDGE OF HIGH PRESSURE OVER THE NORTH PACIFIC WITH TROPICAL-LIKE AIR RIDING OVER TOP OF THE RIDGE ACROSS THE BERING SEA INTO MAINLAND ALASKA. A DRAMATIC CHANGE IN PATTERN WILL BEGIN THIS WEEKEND AS THIS RIDGE BEGINS TO BREAK DOWN WHILE A NEW RIDGE BUILDS OVER THE WESTERN BERING AND EASTERN RUSSIA. THIS WILL SHIFT THE FLOW TO NORTHERLY ACROSS MAINLAND ALASKA AND MUCH OF THE BERING SEA AND ALLOW ARCTIC AIR TO PLUNGE SOUTHWARD ACROSS THE STATE. TEMPERATURES WILL BEGIN TO FALL ACROSS SOUTHWEST AND SOUTHCENTRAL ALASKA TONIGHT AND CONTINUE TO TREND DOWNWARD OVER THE WEEKEND. REINFORCING SHOTS OF COLD AIR WILL THEN MOVE IN OVER THE COURSE OF NEXT WEEK. THIS WILL BE THE COLDEST AIR OF THE SEASON THUS FAR. FOR INTERIOR AREAS MINIMUM TEMPERATURES WILL BEGIN TO DROP BELOW ZERO BY EARLY NEXT WEEK WITH HIGH TEMPERATURES GENERALLY IN THE SINGLE DIGITS TO TEENS. FOR MOST COASTAL AREAS MINIMUM TEMPERATURES WILL BOTTOM OUT IN THE SINGLE DIGITS TO TEENS WITH DAILY HIGH TEMPERATURES IN THE TEENS TO 20S. THIS PATTERN LOOKS LIKE IT WILL HOLD THROUGH THE END OF NEXT WEEK AND PERHAPS BEYOND. CONDITIONS ARE EXPECTED TO BE MOSTLY CLEAR AND DRY. HOWEVER...UPPER LEVEL DISTURBANCES TRANSITING THE AREA MAY BRING OCCASIONAL CLOUDS AND A BRIEF CHANCE OF LIGHT SNOW OR FLURRIES TO THE REGION. FOR THE LATEST TEMPERATURE FORECASTS FOR YOUR SPECIFIC AREA PLEASE VISIT WWW.WEATHER.GOV/ANCHORAGE.

PUBLIC INFORMATION STATEMENT NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE FAIRBANKS AK 1102 PM AKDT THU AUG 8 2013 ...ANOTHER DAY ABOVE 80 IN FAIRBANKS... THE HIGH THURSDAY IN FAIRBANKS WAS 82 DEGREES. THIS WAS THE 36TH DAY THIS SUMMER WITH A HIGH TEMPERATURE OF 80 DEGREES OR WARMER. WEATHER RECORDS STRETCHING BACK OVER 100 YEARS SHOW NO OTHER SUMMER HAS HAD MORE THAN 30 DAYS OF 80 DEGREES OR WARMER IN FAIRBANKS. THE AVERAGE NUMBER OF DAYS EACH SUMMER OF 80 OR ABOVE IS 11.