Friday, January 21, 2011

Northern Minnesota Coldest in 40+ Years


Images (click to enlarge): January 21, 2011 daily low temperatures in northern Minnesota and Wisconsin, from National Weather Service; US/Canada surface temperatures at 6 am CST, from University of Illinois; Temperature and dewpoint at International Falls for 24 hours ending 2 pm CST, January 21, from National Weather Service

4 PM Update: The National Weather Service has supplied these additional factoids:
The -25 degree low at Duluth is tied for the 5th lowest minimum temperature in the last decade (since 2000). The lowest minimum temperature of the 2000s thus far has been -30 on January 29, 2004.

The state record low temperature in Minnesota was recorded at Tower, Minnesota on February 2, 1996. The low was -60 degrees. That was also the coldest temperature ever recorded east of the Mississippi River.

The state record low temperature in Wisconsin was recorded at Couderay on February 2nd and February 4th of 1996. The temperatures dipped down to -55 degrees both nights.
Temperatures by mid-afternoon had warmed to -8° at International Falls.

Original post:
The National Weather Service reports that this morning's low of -46° at International Falls, Minnesota tied the all-time record low at the current airport location set on January 6, 1968. Airport records began in 1939. In the overall International Falls record, which dates back to 1897, this was the 5th coldest reading. The all-time coldest temperature at International Falls is -55°. This occurred on January 6, 1909. Today's -46° temperature was matched at a co-operative reporting station at Babbit MN.

In all, 21 of the 31 January daily record lows at International Falls are -40° or colder. Three daily lows are -50° or colder, all of them set in 1909, on the 6th (all-time record of -55°), 7th (-54°) and 11th (-50°). The average daily low in January is -8.4°.

Other low temperatures for January 21 reported by the National Weather Service include:
TEMP    LOCATION                 ST  COUNTY           SOURCE
---- ----------------------- -- -------------- -------
-46 INTERNATIONAL FALLS MN KOOCHICHING ASOS
-46 BABBITT MN ST LOUIS COOP
-43 EMBARRASS MN ST LOUIS COOP
-43 BIGFORK MN ITASCA RAWS
-43 ASH LAKE MN ST LOUIS MNDOT
-43 EFFIE MN ITASCA RAWS
-40 LITTLEFORK MN KOOCHICHING COOP
-40 BIRCHDALE MN KOOCHICHING MNDOT
-39 MINONG WI WASHBURN RAWS
-38 CASS LAKE MN CASS RAWS
-38 SQUAW LAKE MN ITASCA MNDOT
-38 CUTFOOT MN ITASCA RAWS
-38 BOVEY MN ITASCA PRIVATE
-38 KABETOGAMA MN ST LOUIS COOP
-38 CRANE LAKE MN ST LOUIS AWOS
-37 MARGIE MN KOOCHICHING MNDOT
-37 HILL CITY MN ITASCA RAWS
-37 ELY MN ST LOUIS RAWS
-37 RICE LAKE MN AITKIN RAWS
-36 LONG LAKE MN ITASCA PRIVATE
-36 JACOBSON MN AITKIN MNDOT
-36 BARNES WI BAYFIELD RAWS
-36 LONGVILLE MN CASS AWOS
-36 PINE RIVER MN CASS AWOS
-36 SEAGULL LAKE MN COOK RAWS
-36 WRIGHT MN ST LOUIS COOP
-35 KABETOGAMA MN ST LOUIS RAWS
-34 MCGRATH MN AITKIN MNDOT
-34 ASH RIVER MN ST LOUIS PRIVATE
-34 GUNFLINT LAKE MN COOK COOP
-34 HAYWARD WI SAWYER RAWS
-34 LIND WI BURNETT RAWS
-34 MOOSE LAKE MN CARLTON RAWS
-33 GRAND RAPIDS MN ITASCA AWOS
-33 COHASSET MN ITASCA PRIVATE
-33 MCGREGOR MN AITKIN AWOS
-33 AITKIN MN AITKIN AWOS
-33 HIBBING MN ST LOUIS RAWS
-33 JENKINS MN CROW WING PRIVATE
-33 EMILY MN CROW WING MNDOT
-33 BRAINERD MN CROW WING ASOS
-33 MOOSE LAKE MN CARLTON AWOS
-33 SOUTH RANGE WI DOUGLAS PRIVATE
-32 GRANTSBURG WI BURNETT PRIVATE
-31 SILVER BAY MN LAKE AWOS
-31 TWO HARBORS MN LAKE AWOS
-31 LEADER MN CASS PRIVATE
-31 DEER RIVER MN ITASCA PRIVATE
-31 SIREN WI BURNETT AWOS
-31 GRANTSBURG WI BURNETT WIDOT
-31 HINCKLEY MN PINE PRIVATE
-30 BREEZY POINT MN CROW WING PRIVATE
-30 TUCKER LAKE MN COOK PRIVATE
-30 GLIDDEN WI ASHLAND RAWS
-30 GORDON WI DOUGLAS RAWS
-29 I-35 MILE 198 MN PINE MNDOT
-29 SEELEY WI SAWYER PRIVATE
-29 4W CLAM LAKE WI BAYFIELD PRIVATE
-29 ISABELLA MN LAKE RAWS
-28 NISSWA MN CROW WING PRIVATE
-28 MERRIFIELD MN CROW WING PRIVATE
-26 DRUMMOND WI BAYFIELD SCHOOL
-26 SUPERIOR WI DOUGLAS AWOS
-26 PHILLIPS WI PRICE AWOS
-25 FERNBERG MN LAKE RAWS
-25 WASHBURN WI BAYFIELD RAWS
-25 PINE CITY MN PINE SCHOOL
-25 DULUTH MN ST LOUIS ASOS
-24 I-35 MILE 181 MN PINE MNDOT
-22 HIGH BRIDGE WI ASHLAND PRIVATE
-22 MAPLE WI DOUGLAS PRIVATE
-21 SILVER CREEK MN LAKE PRIVATE

Tuesday, January 18, 2011

Winter 2010-11 Mid-Season Temperature Review

January 14th (last Friday) was the midpoint of meteorological winter (December-February). Following the coldest month of 2010 in December (4.9° below average), Washington temperatures have been considerably milder relative to seasonal normals in the first half of January, averaging 0.7° below the climatological mean. If temperatures continue for the rest of the winter at the current average of 3.4° below climatology, this will be the coldest winter since 2003, which was 3.5° colder than the long-term mean. Including this year, the 12 winters of this century so far have averaged 0.3° warmer than climatology.

On a wider scale, Washington is on the northern edge of an area of colder than average winter temperatures extending westward to the Ohio Valley and southward through the southeastern states. Some small areas in Georgia and the Carolinas have been as much as 6°C colder than average. Nearly all of the rest of the U.S. has been within +-2°C of average, with above average temperatures in most of the western half of the country.

In the rest of North America, however, much warmer than average temperatures have predominated over northern and eastern Canada. A large area of temperatures at least 14°C above average extends from Hudson Bay to Greenland. (Note that the polar stereographic projection of the map preserves geographic sizes between latitudes.) For more details on the record warm Canadian temperatures, see the article from the National Center for Atmospheric Research:
Cold comfort: Canada's record-smashing mildness

The North American 2010-2011 winter temperature has been controlled by a persistent atmospheric circulation pattern which features very strong high pressure over eastern Canada and Greenland, coupled with low pressure from the eastern U.S. eastward across the central Atlantic. The height of the 500 mb surface (roughly the middle of the atmosphere) has been over 250 meters above normal through the first half of the winter over a large area from Baffin Island (north of Hudson Bay) to southern Greenland. On the other hand, heights from the Virginia/North Carolina coast eastward into the Atlantic have been as much as 150 meters below average.

Monday, January 17, 2011

Spectacular Snow Cinema: Art Meets Blizzard



Amid all the amateur weather video engulfing social media and infiltrating The Weather Channel and other broadcast outlets, one product of the New York post-Christmas blizzard stands way above the rest. Veteran film critic Roger Ebert has this to say in his blog regarding "Man in a Blizzard," by Jamie Stuart:
This film deserves to win the Academy Award for best live-action short subject.
(1) Because of its wonderful quality. (2) Because of its role as homage. It is directly inspired by Dziga Vertov's 1929 silent classic "Man With a Movie Camera." (3) Because it represents an almost unbelievable technical proficiency. It was filmed during the New York blizzard of Dec. 26, and Jamie Stuart e-mailed it to me with this time stamp: December 27, 2010 4:18:18 PM CST.

You can tell from the cinematography he knew exactly what he was doing and how to do it. He held the Vertov film in memory. Stuart must already been thinking of how he would do the edit and sound. Any professional will tell you the talent exhibited here is extraordinary.
YouTube hits for the video are now over half a million.

Seasonal Outlook

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Latest 3-month temperature outlook from Climate Prediction Center/NWS/NOAA.