Arctic Hounds Unleashed: Long Duration Late January/Early February Cold Snap

[WxWatcher007]

By my count, and I do not claim to be nearly as competent as the great @donsutherland1 and @ORH_wxman, through 1/31 both BDR and BDL are experiencing their coldest (by avg temp) start to winter since 2011. Both stations just edge out 2018, and of course neither count February since it hasn't happened yet. 

That's very impressive to me. 

Maybe more impressive is the inland streak with temperatures below 25. Looking back, that 1961 period is just outrageous. 

[SnoSki14]

That's some man cold next weekend.  Winds are howling with below zero temps. 

Talking -30-35F windchills 

[Modfan2]

Down to 8F so far this am; does anyone have some lake/pond ice depths in SNE? Got To think we close to be over 12” or more in most areas.

[CoastalWx]

1 minute ago, Modfan2 said:

Down to 8F so far this am; does anyone have some lake/pond ice depths in SNE? Got To think we close to be over 12” or more in most areas.

Last weekend the ice here was just starting to thicken safely after the first two weeks of warmth. But then the snow came to insulate it. I know even the ponds in SNH had slush at the bottom of the snowpack. 

[HIPPYVALLEY]

6 minutes ago, CoastalWx said:

Last weekend the ice here was just starting to thicken safely after the first two weeks of warmth. But then the snow came to insulate it. I know even the ponds in SNH had slush at the bottom of the snowpack. 

What?  People literally been ice fishing here for close to eight weeks. 

[CoastalWx]

24 minutes ago, HIPPYVALLEY said:

What?  People literally been ice fishing here for close to eight weeks. 

They were ice fishing on the Charles River yesterday too. Just saying what I heard in SNH. Snow insulates. 

[CoastalWx]

They were ice fishing here in December but January two week thawed thinned it out in some areas.

[HIPPYVALLEY]

6 minutes ago, CoastalWx said:

They were ice fishing on the Charles River yesterday too. Just saying what I heard in SNH. Snow insulates. 

Yeah, I think a snow pack reduces ice formation rate by 50%

[wx2fish]

Still plenty of slush in spots under the snow even up to Winni. Downside to the weight of a deep pack. Plenty of ice, but makes a pain to navigate. Been trying to keep a hockey rink cleared and its finally firmed up enough under the snow to shovel to top off without making a total mess

[Ginx snewx]

4 minutes ago, wx2fish said:

Still plenty of slush in spots under the snow even up to Winni. Downside to the weight of a deep pack. Plenty of ice, but makes a pain to navigate. Been trying to keep a hockey rink cleared and its finally firmed up enough under the snow to shovel to top off without making a total mess

Check this out! The Copernicus Sentinel satellite captured this high-definition image of Narragansett Bay on Saturday. The high resolution of the image shows where the bay is beginning to freeze over, such as in Greenwich Bay, just south of Warwick. There is also plenty of ice in the East Bay, along with a decent-sized ice field west of Prudence Island and in the Sakonnet River.

[CoastalWx]

Looks like after this weekend we can safely say the real cold is done. Temps moderate and then we’ll be at the end of the month with climo rising. 

[amarshall]

People out walking on the bay in Duxbury this weekend.   Big nope from me. 

[WxWatcher007]

Low of 1.4° here at WXW1.

-15.1 at WXW2. Seven straight days below zero there. 

[dendrite]

Just drove through the Lake Winnisquam area and the temp fell from 15° to 4° almost instantly on the car thermo. Wunderground obs check out. 

[tamarack]

15 hours ago, Ginx snewx said:

New England Cold wave of 1857. January 1857 was the coldest month ever recorded in New England. Average month temperatures of 16.7 °F (−8.5 °C) in New Haven, 16.8 °F (−8.4 °C) in Boston, and 19.6 °F (−6.9 °C) in New York City remain coldest months on record in those cities. The worst of the cold descended on New England on January 22 with January 23 being one of the coldest days known in the region. In Bath, Maine a temperature reading of −52 °F (−47 °C) and in Franconia, New Hampshire −51 °F (−46 °C) were recorded. In Norwich, Vermont −44 °F (−42 °C) was recorded. Boston suburbs of Malden and West Newton recorded −30 °F (−34 °C) overnight. Boston temperatures for January 23 never rose above 0 °F (−18 °C) all day and Nantucket Island was connected to the mainland by ice. In New York City, Erasmus Hall in Brooklyn reached a high of 0 °F during the day and the Hudson River froze over solidly enough for people to walk across to Hoboken.[

-51 in Franconia is impressive.  -52 at tidewater in Bath is incredible (if real) - blows away the near-impossible -39 at PWM on 2/16/1943.

Just missed a 40° diurnal span yesterday, 21/-18.  Slightly below zero for today's low, while BML and HIE reached -19.

[WxWatcher007]

8 minutes ago, tamarack said:

-51 in Franconia is impressive.  -52 at tidewater in Bath is incredible (if real) - blows away the near-impossible -39 at PWM on 2/16/1943.

Just missed a 40° diurnal span yesterday, 21/-18.  Slightly below zero for today's low, while BML and HIE reached -19.

What’s your lowest recorded temperature up there?

[SJonesWX]

2 hours ago, CoastalWx said:

Last weekend the ice here was just starting to thicken safely after the first two weeks of warmth. But then the snow came to insulate it. I know even the ponds in SNH had slush at the bottom of the snowpack. 

yeah, no. the ice didn't go anywhere in SNH. the weight of the snow on the ice may have pushed water up to the surface creating the slush (which happens almost every year), but there has been no ice melting. 

[tamarack]

12 minutes ago, WxWatcher007 said:

What’s your lowest recorded temperature up there?

We've reached the minus 30s 6 times.

-36   Jan 16, 2009   (Big Black River in NW Maine sets a new statewide minimum with -50, eclipsing the -48 in Van Buren.)
-34   Jan 17, 2009
-31    Jan 4, 2014
-31   Dec 29, 2017
-30   Jan 22, 2005
-30   Jan 27, 2022
We've also had 4 mornings at -29, 3 in Jan and one in Feb.

Fort Kent had some impressive cold during our 10 years there.  -41 in Jan 1976 (11 days after we moved there), -39, -42 and -47 in Jan 1979, also -42 in Dec 1980.

[1985 Polar Bear]

16 hours ago, Ginx snewx said:

New England Cold wave of 1857. January 1857 was the coldest month ever recorded in New England. 

"The Arctic rigors...have come down like an avalanche upon us. How must the poor have suffered...in ill-provided dwellings, with lack of comfortable clothing by day and night, with lack of fuel  and even food perhaps! The extreme cold, before unparalleled in this latitude, which looked into many well-conditioned and provided homes with an awe-inspiring presence, with what pallid ghastliness must it have  invaded the houses of the poor even to their hearthstones." -- Bangor (Maine) Daily Union, Jan. 26, 1857

[powderfreak]

1 hour ago, tamarack said:

 

Just missed a 40° diurnal span yesterday, 21/-18.  Slightly below zero for today's low, while BML and HIE reached -19.

Already recovered 26 degrees by 10:30am here…

-13F to 13F.

[CoastalWx]

36 minutes ago, SJonesWX said:

yeah, no. the ice didn't go anywhere in SNH. the weight of the snow on the ice may have pushed water up to the surface creating the slush (which happens almost every year), but there has been no ice melting. 

Snow doesn’t melt ice. It insulates it.  You can’t still build ice, but not like if there was no snow.

[dendrite]

Only fell to 6° here…no complaints. 

[dendrite]

2 minutes ago, CoastalWx said:

Snow doesn’t melt ice. It insulates it.  You can’t still build ice, but not like if there was no snow.

Yup…4” soil temp is 32° and 8” is 33°. It’s been like that for weeks.

[bch2014]

The Alton Bay ice runway is open, per Facebook, with ice depths over a foot.