Southern Plains winter wx thread (2008-2009)

[Siberian Express]

When it's that cold does everything shutdown? No work? No school?

No work?...haha..most of us wish. Like RL3AO said, some schools close due to avoiding having the kids waiting for buses, or sometimes for buses that won't run. Diesel vehicles have a gel problem sometimes. The fuel gets to thick due to the cold. Most schools go on a two hour delayed start, with no school for the real young ones.

Work and life goes on for the majority, with the exception for some outside workers and tradesmen. Probably in their contract.

Lots of wood stoves cranking, smoke hanging low. I've been waiting for the proverbial hot water in a cup outside TV segments. Throw it in the air and instant snow.

[xironman]

Rochelle, IL fell to -37F this morning!

http://www.weather.gov/data/obhistory/KRPJ.html

If this number stands, then it will be cold enough to break the ALL-TIME record low for the state of Illinois set back in 1999 (-36F)!

Didn't stand
NWS Chicago, IL

EARLIER TODAY THE AUTOMATED OBSERVING STATION AT THE ROCHELLE
ILLINOIS AIRPORT IN SOUTHEASTERN OGLE COUNTY REGISTERED A
TEMPERATURE OF -37 DEGREES FAHRENHEIT. THIS WOULD HAVE BEEN A NEW
STATE LOW TEMPERATURE RECORD. HOWEVER...UPON INVESTIGATION...THE
ILLINOIS STATE CLIMATOLOGIST FOUND THAT THE AUTOMATED EQUIPMENT HAD
MALFUNCTIONED AND WAS READING 14 DEGREES TOO LOW. THIS HAS BEEN
CORRECTED AND THE SITE IS NOW REPORTING A REPRESENTATIVE TEMPERATURE.

[Extremeweatherguy]

Interesting statement from the Norman, OK NWS office in their morning AFD...

YET ANOTHER FRONT EXPECTED AROUND NEXT THURSDAY...WHICH WILL
LIKELY BE ARCTIC. EXACT TIMING VIA MEDIUM RANGE MODELS WILL LIKELY
CHANGE IN THE NEXT FEW DAYS...SO WILL NOT GO CRAZY WITH BIG COOL
DOWN ON DAY 7. WITH WESTERN RIDGE PROGD TO BREAK DOWN AT THIS
TIME...SOUTHERN STREAM SYSTEMS PROGD TO APPROACH REGION LATE NEXT
WEEK INTO THE WEEKEND WHICH MAY YIELD OPPORTUNITY FOR SOME MUCH
NEEDED PRECIPITATION.

Looks as though they expect another arctic front to be coming down the plains in just 6 days. They must be following the 00z ECMWF.

[Extremeweatherguy]

Brr. It is only -17F in Chicago right now!



Other notable lows this morning include...
Kenosha, WI = -21F
Albertus, IL = -26F
Dekalb, IL = -21F
Rochelle, IL = -36F
Lewis University, IL = -22F
Minneapolis, MN = -22F
Dayton, OH = -13F
New York City, NY (Central Park) = 10F
Shirley, NY = 0F
Ithaca, NY = -5F
Westhampton Beach, NY = -14F <<That is on Long Island!
Montpelier, VT = -25F
Pittsburgh, PA = -7F
Cleveland, OH = -9F
Mansfield, OH = -13F
Cincinnati, OH = -3F
Atlanta, GA = 12F
Charlotte, NC = 12F
Roanoke, VA = 8F
Huntsville, AL = 9F
Birmingham, AL = 12F
Louisville, KY = 0F


**As of now, that -14F at Westhampton Beach is being recognized by the NWS as an accurate reading. Simply Incredible!**

[Portastorm]

Interesting statement from the Norman, OK NWS office in their morning AFD...

YET ANOTHER FRONT EXPECTED AROUND NEXT THURSDAY...WHICH WILL
LIKELY BE ARCTIC. EXACT TIMING VIA MEDIUM RANGE MODELS WILL LIKELY
CHANGE IN THE NEXT FEW DAYS...SO WILL NOT GO CRAZY WITH BIG COOL
DOWN ON DAY 7. WITH WESTERN RIDGE PROGD TO BREAK DOWN AT THIS
TIME...SOUTHERN STREAM SYSTEMS PROGD TO APPROACH REGION LATE NEXT
WEEK INTO THE WEEKEND WHICH MAY YIELD OPPORTUNITY FOR SOME MUCH
NEEDED PRECIPITATION.

Looks as though they expect another arctic front to be coming down the plains in just 6 days. They must be following the 00z ECMWF.

This morning's 0z European does hint at another Arctic airmass dropping down over the eastern half of the USA at that time. However, the trajectory based on the 500 and 850 mb flow that I saw suggests this will be another Eastern event with nominal effect on the southern Plains and Texas.

[Dave]

Cincinnati may be showing -2 but we went to -10 overnight 35 miles west of the city. Dead battery on my car this morning also. I can verify it's very cold outside, still trying to warm up after putting a new battery in.

[Dionne]

+24F at sunrise. Didn't even get close to the forecast low. Barometric pressure at 30.73!!!! 42% humidity. Beautiful morning.

[jasons2k]

I don't buy that Westhampton temperature reading. 24 degrees lower than Central Park? 9 degrees lower than Ithaca, NY? That looks VERY suspect to me...I would expect some revision to that down the road.

[srainhoutx]

I don't buy that Westhampton temperature reading. 24 degrees lower than Central Park? 9 degrees lower than Ithaca, NY? That looks VERY suspect to me...I would expect some revision to that down the road.

Like the AWOS in Rochelle, IL yesterday(showed-37 and actually ended up 14* warmer in post analysis), I suspect many readings will be updated as well.

[somethingfunny]

18° overnight here. My thermostat shorted out last night, didn't find out until I got home from work at near midnight. Joy.

Good thing I've got a sleeping bag rated for 20°F.

[jinftl]

Easthampton...next to Westhamption hasn't dropped below the low 10's....above zero...in the last few days.

http://www.erh.noaa.gov/okx/gen_meteogram.php?loc=East%20Hampton&id=KHTO

I don't buy that Westhampton temperature reading. 24 degrees lower than Central Park? 9 degrees lower than Ithaca, NY? That looks VERY suspect to me...I would expect some revision to that down the road.

[Extremeweatherguy]

From the Upton, NY NWS office...

AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE UPTON NY
956 AM EST FRI JAN 16 2009

.SYNOPSIS...
ARCTIC HIGH PRESSURE WILL BUILD IN THROUGH SATURDAY. AN ALBERTA
CLIPPER LOW PRESSURE SYSTEM WILL MOVE ACROSS THE REGION ON SUNDAY.
WEAK HIGH PRESSURE WILL THEN BUILD IN MONDAY FOLLOWED BY YET
ANOTHER CLIPPER SYSTEM FOR TUESDAY NIGHT. HIGH PRESSURE WILL THEN
BUILD IN FROM THE PLAINS FOR WEDNESDAY INTO THURSDAY.

&&

.NEAR TERM /UNTIL 6 PM THIS EVENING/...
ARCTIC AIR MASS CONTINUES TO FILTER INTO THE REGION WITH CLEAR
SKIES EXCEPT FOR SOME SOUND EFFECT CLOUDS AND SNOW FLURRIES OVER
THE TWIN FORKS OF LONG ISLAND. THERE WAS ABOUT AN INCH OF SNOW
DURING THE OVERNIGHT ON THE FORKS FROM THIS BUT RADAR SUGGESTS
THAT MOST OF THIS HAS DIMINISHED AT THIS TIME.

AMAZING RADIATIONAL COOLING IN THE FRESH SNOW COVER OCCURRED OVERNIGHT
RESULTED IN TEMPS DROPPING WELL BELOW ZERO (-13 AT PORT JERVIS,
-14 AT WESTHAMPTON). TEMPS HAVE QUICKLY RECOVED (25 DEGREES WARMER
NOW AT FOK !) THIS MORNING AS THE SHALLOW INVERSION BROKE. TEMPS
STILL WELL BELOW GUIDANCE WITH OLD NGM MOS DOING THE BEST.

A FEW TO SCT STRATO CU THIS AFTERNOON VIA DAYTIME MIXING AND AS
UPPER TROUGH SLIDES ACROSS...BUT THESE CLOUDS SHOULD DECREASE
DURING LATE AFTERNOON AS SFC RIDGING BUILDS IN.

Looks like the NWS is buying into those numbers, and as of now they have no plans on any revisions.

[Extremeweatherguy]

Easthampton...next to Westhamption hasn't dropped below the low 10's....above zero...in the last few days.

http://www.erh.noaa.gov/okx/gen_meteogram.php?loc=East%20Hampton&id=KHTO

I don't buy that Westhampton temperature reading. 24 degrees lower than Central Park? 9 degrees lower than Ithaca, NY? That looks VERY suspect to me...I would expect some revision to that down the road.

There is tons of missing data for East Hampton: http://www.weather.gov/data/obhistory/KHTO.html

The entire period between 12:50pm yesterday afternoon and 8:50am this morning is missing from the record.

[jinftl]

Govt doesn't want folks to know the extent of the cold. Florida weather offices are wishing they had thought of that....except in their case to not have to show how 'not cold' it got compared to forecasts.

Easthampton...next to Westhamption hasn't dropped below the low 10's....above zero...in the last few days.

http://www.erh.noaa.gov/okx/gen_meteogram.php?loc=East%20Hampton&id=KHTO

I don't buy that Westhampton temperature reading. 24 degrees lower than Central Park? 9 degrees lower than Ithaca, NY? That looks VERY suspect to me...I would expect some revision to that down the road.

There is tons of missing data for East Hampton: http://www.weather.gov/data/obhistory/KHTO.html

The entire period between 12:50pm yesterday afternoon and 8:50am this morning is missing from the record.

[vbhoutex]

[quote="jinftl"]Govt doesn't want folks to know the extent of the cold. Florida weather offices are wishing they had thought of that....except in their case to not have to show how 'not cold' in got compared to forecasts.


Huh?? And how are they going to hide it when the public has thermometers galore of their own that they can read? Give me a break!!

[somethingfunny]

ROFL

Florida's Tourism Bureau has a vested interest in not letting anybody know it can get below 65° in their state. Billions of dollars are at stake! The truth must get out....help us, Jack Bauer, help!

[Ed Mahmoud]

I don't buy that Westhampton temperature reading. 24 degrees lower than Central Park? 9 degrees lower than Ithaca, NY? That looks VERY suspect to me...I would expect some revision to that down the road.

Like the AWOS in Rochelle, IL yesterday(showed-37 and actually ended up 14* warmer in post analysis), I suspect many readings will be updated as well.

Joe Bastardi suspects that temp below -30º was correct, and he laid out a fairly detailed explanantion for it yesterday. I don't know if the -38º is correct to the decimal point, but they didn't test the thermometer, and JB explained how he took a graduate level course in intrumentation at Penn State as a senior, and how he could find greater than 10ºF temperature differences around the Penn State golf course on clear, cool mornings before sunrise.


That said, while I wonder about Rochelle being actually correct, -14.1ºF with calm winds a mile or less from 40ºF ocean waters sounds funny, with Islip and Shirley going to +3º and 0ºF respectively. But maybe some cold air drained off the barrens.

[Ed Mahmoud]

Central Park, in the middle of NYC, would be quite a bit warmer than the suburbs. The urban heat island is a well known fact, and one of the possible contributors to perceived global warming, as airports located well away from city centers a few decades ago are now surrounded by the cities they serve.

[jinftl]

Totally kidding of course...no conspiracy theory for hiding low temps in the Hamptons. Based on other locations on eastern long island and dewpoints that did not go as low as -14 deg in the area, i don't see how the -14F reading is correct (link to source would be helpful for that data)...one of those instances where my intended tone of the post got lost...partly due to my sad attempt at humor.

I do have to wonder if the Florida Tourism Board worked something out with Mexico to have a constant cirrus canopy blanket the state wed and thursday nights preventing a freeze and allowing Miami to say that even after the front, their low of 59 deg was 96 deg warmer than Caribou, Maine was last night!

Almost looks like another cirrus canopy getting ready to traverse gulf and blanket parts of the peninsula.

Govt doesn't want folks to know the extent of the cold. Florida weather offices are wishing they had thought of that....except in their case to not have to show how 'not cold' in got compared to forecasts.


Huh?? And how are they going to hide it when the public has thermometers galore of their own that they can read? Give me a break!!

[jinftl]

Rememer that the hampton are a beach town....and are moderated by the ocean...avg high/low in easthampton is 39/27 for January. NYC averages 38/26.


Lowest temp ever recorded in East Hampton is -12 deg F in Feb 1934
http://www.weather.com/outlook/travel/vacationplanner/vacationclimatology/monthly/USNY0418

Central Park, in the middle of NYC, would be quite a bit warmer than the suburbs. The urban heat island is a well known fact, and one of the possible contributors to perceived global warming, as airports located well away from city centers a few decades ago are now surrounded by the cities they serve.