Interesting weather history

[Extremeweatherguy]

I don't know if anyone has ever messed around with the weather history feature on the weatherunderground site, but it is definitely pretty cool to check out if you ever get bored. With hour-by-hour reports dating back to the early 1970s (for some cities), you can take a detailed look back at some of the more historic moments in weather history.

Being that this is the winter weather forum, I have decided to post a few examples of interesting winter weather history I have come across during my searches...

December 1989 Cold Snap
Check out these interesting reports from the December '89 arctic plunge...

December 22nd, 1989 in Oklahoma City, OK: http://www.wunderground.com/history/airport/KPWA/1989/12/22/DailyHistory.html
December 23rd, 1989 in Oklahoma City, OK: http://www.wunderground.com/history/airport/KPWA/1989/12/23/DailyHistory.html

December 22nd, 1989 in Dallas, TX: http://www.wunderground.com/history/airport/KDAL/1989/12/22/DailyHistory.html
December 23rd, 1989 in Dallas, TX: http://www.wunderground.com/history/airport/KDAL/1989/12/23/DailyHistory.html

December 22nd, 1989 in Houston, TX: http://www.wunderground.com/history/airport/KHOU/1989/12/22/DailyHistory.html
December 23rd, 1989 in Houston, TX: http://www.wunderground.com/history/airport/KHOU/1989/12/23/DailyHistory.html

December 23rd, 1989 in Tallahassee, FL: http://www.wunderground.com/history/airport/KTLH/1989/12/23/DailyHistory.html
December 24th, 1989 in Tallahassee, FL: http://www.wunderground.com/history/airport/KTLH/1989/12/24/DailyHistory.html

December 23rd, 1989 in Orlando, FL: http://www.wunderground.com/history/airport/KORL/1989/12/23/DailyHistory.html
December 24th, 1989 in Orlando, FL: http://www.wunderground.com/history/airport/KORL/1989/12/24/DailyHistory.html

December 23rd, 1989 in Daytona Beach, FL: http://www.wunderground.com/history/airport/KDAB/1989/12/23/DailyHistory.html
December 24th, 1989 in Daytona Beach, FL: http://www.wunderground.com/history/airport/KDAB/1989/12/24/DailyHistory.html

December 24th, 1989 in Miami, FL: http://www.wunderground.com/history/airport/KMIA/1989/12/24/DailyHistory.html
December 25th, 1989 in Miami, FL: http://www.wunderground.com/history/airport/KMIA/1989/12/25/DailyHistory.html

Looking back at this arctic plunge, it is amazing just how cold it really was across the south. A high temperature of only 13F in Dallas and 3F in Oklahoma City is insane to even think about. And a high only reaching the low/mid 40s in Miami, FL on Christmas Eve in also pretty amazing. A low of 44F in Miami would be considered quite cold, but a high of 44F down there is almost unimaginable.

1977 Florida Snow
More interesting reports from yet another historical winter event...

January 18th, 1977 in Tallahassee, FL: http://www.wunderground.com/history/airport/KTLH/1977/1/18/DailyHistory.html

January 19th, 1977 in Daytona Beach, FL: http://www.wunderground.com/history/airport/KDAB/1977/1/19/DailyHistory.html

January 19th, 1977 in Melbourne, FL: http://www.wunderground.com/history/airport/KMLB/1977/1/19/DailyHistory.html

January 1985 Cold Snap
This airmass was cold enough to bring teens all the way to central Florida and a -5F reading to Atlanta...

January 20th, 1985 in Atlanta, GA: http://www.wunderground.com/history/airport/KPDK/1985/1/20/DailyHistory.html
January 21st, 1985 in Atlanta, GA: http://www.wunderground.com/history/airport/KPDK/1985/1/21/DailyHistory.html

January 21st, 1985 in Raleigh, NC: http://www.wunderground.com/history/airport/KRDU/1985/1/21/DailyHistory.html

January 21st, 1985 in Gainseville, FL: http://www.wunderground.com/history/airport/KGNV/1985/1/21/DailyHistory.html

January 21st, 1985 in Orlando, FL: http://www.wunderground.com/history/airport/KMCO/1985/1/21/DailyHistory.html

January 22nd, 1985 in Miami, FL: http://www.wunderground.com/history/airport/KMIA/1985/1/22/DailyHistory.html

[Scott Patterson]

What is also interesting about the December 1989 cold spell (unlike some other cold snaps such as the one during February 1899), is that it was very shallow. The entire cold snap stayed east of the Rockies (this is common, but not quite to the extent of 1989 in that there were no cold snaps at all west of the divide).

For example, Salt Lake City never saw a temperature below +16F the entire month of December 1989. Scroll down to the monthly view:

http://www.wunderground.com/history/airport/KSLC/1989/12/21/MonthlyHistory.html?req_city=NA&req_state=NA&req_statename=NA

Tallahassee recorded +12 that same month!

What is even more amazing is the Steamboat Springs in the Colorado Rockies never saw a day below -2F in all of December 1989. Something like that almost never happens. In December, Steamboat Springs usually gets as cold as places like Bismark ND or even International Falls MN. To never record a temperare in the entire month of December that wasn't below -2F is amazing, especially considering that Dallas TX got almost that cold during the same time period. In a "normal" December, Steamboat Springs drops into the -20's and in some years can drop into the -40's. Several cities in Montana and even Wyoming never recorded a sub-zero temperature during December 1989.

[Valkhorn]

Or here in Knoxville during the 1985 snap:

http://www.wunderground.com/history/air ... story.html

We reached -24F - which is only 8 degrees away from the state record low of -32F set in 1917.

There were also rumors that the Smoky Mountains (above 6000 ft) reached nearly -40F during this outbreak - but there were no reliable measurements up there.

Last winter it did get down to -22F on Mount Leconte with about a foot or so of snow on the ground - but again, it's hard to gauge reliability of weather measurements in the Smokies.

EDIT: Mt. Mitchell reached -34F, so it's possible that similar elevations (6000-6500ft) closer to the polar vortex reached -35F or colder.

http://www.roanoke.com/weather/wb/16914

The reality of this outbreak was that it moved very fast and was deep enough that it did not significantly modify by the time it hit the southern Apps.

[richtrav]

Yup 1989 was extremely severe for the western Gulf region, the worst since 1899. But for duration 1983 took the cake. DFW had it especially hard. Look at how many days the metro area was so cold:

http://www.wunderground.com/history/air ... story.html
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Note that the temperature got no higher than 20F from 1pm on the 21st to 10am on the 26th - basically 5 consecutive days of temps in the single digits or teens

That is one incredibly long stretch of cold; looking through the records I see where only Feb 1895, Feb 1899, and Jan 1930 come close to that in length.

That DFW hasn't seen anything remotely approaching one of the numerous cold snaps of the 1970s and 80s in many many years leads to me to believe whether the winter climate hasn't truly changed. I don't know how permanent it is but the generally warmer conditions at the top of the planet certainly seem to have cut down on the severity of Arctic outbreaks into the Southern Plains and Northern Mexico. I believe this change is at least generational and a trend that is not so likely to be reversed any time soon (though how are those sunspots coming along?). I'm not saying a supercold airmass capable of freezing the entire state is out of the question, I'm just thinking it's much less likely now than 20 years ago, the odds seem to have changed. The observation of winters trending milder and colder has been noted on the Gulf as far back as 1800 but this warmer trend is unusually long. Going back through the history of the state I can find no periods free of severe outbreaks that have lasted this long. Until 4-5 years ago I thought it was just luck, but now I'm truly wondering if there hasn't been a fundamental change, at least on a decadal/generational level.

[Scott Patterson]

With hour-by-hour reports dating back to the early 1970s (for some cities), you can take a detailed look back at some of the more historic moments in weather history.

What's kind of weird about the above is that there are minor discrepancies between the hourly and daily reports. It is minor, but I checked some of our recent cool spells and noticed this.

Here is an example from January 15 2007:

http://www.wunderground.com/history/airport/KCAG/2007/1/15/DailyHistory.html?req_city=NA&req_state=NA&req_statename=NA

I know the official low was -35F, but the daily on wunderground says -34F. Scrolling down to the hour by hour reports, it does say the temperature was -34.6F at 7:56 am. It seems that for negative temperatures that they are always rounded up rather than to the nearest decimal place. Anyway, it’s only minor, but somewhat interesting.

I checked it for several dates and it always seems to be the case (at least for this station). Check out March 3 2002 for example:

http://www.wunderground.com/history/airport/KCAG/2002/3/3/DailyHistory.html

The daily says -23F, but it was -23.8 at 6:36 and 6:45 am.

It doesn't seem to do this for above zero temperatures though.

For example, August 31 2005, had an official low of 28F. The daily on wunderground matches this. The hourly also matches this since the low of 28 was recorded at around 6:20 am and wunderground uses the official low even the hourlys on either side were slightly higher. It seems to only be a rounding glitch for negative temps.

Anyway, I thought it was interesting.