extreme cold

[John Farley]

Here's an interesting note on climatology in the Panhandle. In January, 1959, on the way home to Iowa from the Rose Bowl game (I was 9 years old at the time), I remember staying in Dalhart, where the low the morning we continued on from there was -21 and there was a foot of snow on the ground. Now THAT is cold! (Yes, I was already a total weather geek to remember such details, but I do.) Anyway, this discussion piqued my curiosity, so I went to the NWS Amarillo website and looked up all-time records, and lo and behold, the lowest official temperature on record in the Panhandle is -22 in Spearman on January 4, 1959! So we were in the Panhandle on the coldest day ever there!

Now as to the debate here, I think both sides have a point. I would agree with those who say that 5 is not all that cold, but Marcus also has a point that December was pretty cold - I noticed in hunting through the climate records that December 22, 2014 was -8, which counts as cold in my book. BTW, the all-time record low for Amarillo is -16, and that was all the way back in 1899.

Edit: Sheesh! I guess I have some talent for finding the most extreme temperatures in the Panhandle! Looking more at the climate data, I realize that my wife and I arrived in Amarillo on their hottest day on record there, June 26, 2011, en route from Illinois to New Mexico. It was 111 degrees that day, although it had cooled off to "only" 108 on my car thermometer when we arrived. IIRC we saw temperatures even higher than 111 farther east, though. So I have experienced, give or take a little, 130 degrees of temperature variation in the Texas Panhandle.

 

[Todd Lemery]

Here in the UP of Michigan we had 56 days below zero last year. Halfway through winter this year we have 9. Seems like a pretty average winter to me. Of course, that doesn't mean a whole lot to those living in the panhandle

 

[calvinkaskey]

I guess im looking for some absolute measure of the cold.

Is there a measurement typically used? What was the coldest so far in the up for example

Here in the UP of Michigan we had 56 days below zero last year. Halfway through winter this year we have 9. Seems like a pretty average winter to me. Of course, that doesn't mean a whole lot to those living in the panhandle

 

[Todd Lemery]

I was using the locally recorded temps. The lowest so far this winter was -13. This is for Menominee Michigan which is about 50 miles North of Green Bay Wisconsin. If you went farther North and West in the U.P. I'm sure they've had much cooler temps.
The next couple weeks aren't looking too bad either. I wanted to fly South and never come back after last Winter!

 

[Dan Fitts]

-35 was our coldest night at the end of December at Melbeta NE. We've had many lows right around -20 and have gotten 38" of snow from mid December to mid January. It has definitely been cold here.

View attachment 8817

 

[calvinkaskey]

Seems pretty cold Dan. Although seems to be limited to upper mid-west as I haven't heard of air that cold in the NE us and the -13 for Michigan doesn't seems out of the ordinary maybe even milder than the average minimum.

 

[rdale]

No, -13 is not milder than the average minimum.

 

[Todd Lemery]

No, -13 is not milder than the average minimum.

The average low for January in Menominee MI is 10 degrees. I think what you meant though Dan, was that Nebraska is having a rougher winter than us in Michigan's UP. On that point you would be dead nuts on. It's hasn't been bad here at all this winter. The snowfall has been light and the temps are running a little above average now.
I've got a couple of tidbits on last winter though. Marquette MI, which is about 1 1/2 hours North of here, had 65 days below zero last year, with the last one coming on April 16th when it was -5 degrees. Kinda hard to plant a garden in that! Newberry (about the same distance away) had a low of -41. That's what makes the temps in Nebraska this year so amazing. They weren't that far off of the Newberry temp despite being so much farther South. I feel like an idiot for thinking Nebraska didn't have "real" winters compared to us up here.

 

[Dan Fitts]

Melbeta is in the panhandle of Nebraska. With arctic outbreaks we get cold here mainly because of elevation (4000ft.) and the fact we're so dry. However the difference is that we rarely stay cold for long periods of time because of the down sloping winds off the rockies.

 

[calvinkaskey]

Port Crane near Binghamton, N.Y. has had only 4 days below zero so far and only 4 days with highs in the teens and no days with highs in the single digits yet with several says with highs in the 50's. Cold winter? I think not, at least in the northeast.

 

[calvinkaskey]

Port Crane near Binghamton, N.Y. has had only 4 days below zero so far and only 4 days with highs in the teens and no days with highs in the single digits yet with several says with highs in the 50's. Cold winter? I think not, at least in the northeast.

We now have had some very cold weather . -2 or so during the hottest part of the day at BGM this past Sunday. Record low high of 6 after midnight that day and a record cold low temperature tied yesterday. I'm wondering if the year was 1994 how cold it would have gotten this past weekend and yesterday. Five degrees colder? I'm curious about the potential for ice jam flooding even though we don't have that much snow on the ground, especially compared to the New England states.

 

[rdale]

I'm wondering if the year was 1994 how cold it would have gotten this past weekend and yesterday.

What does that mean?

 

[Jared Orr]

Calvin is a fantastic conversation starter.

 

[Michael Gavan]

Calvin is a fantastic conversation starter.

We should take bets on his next thread.... Maybe "There are too many Radar sites in the Pandhandles."

 

[Chuck Kavanaugh]

I think the cold temps and sub-zero wind chills we have been experiencing the last few weeks will take a bite out of the atmosphere and it will be another calm and tranquil storm season. The atmosphere last season never had the heat and humidity it needed to fire tornadic storms.