>17 January, 2011

Written by Mark Vogan on January 17, 2011 in Rest of Europe with 0 Comments

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TODAY’S TOP WEATHER STORIES
On Weather & Climate Through the Eyes of Mark Vogan

SEVERE COLD BUILDING OVER NORTH-CENTRAL CANADA, SET TO PILE DRIVE SOUTH INTO HEART OF USA THIS WEEK!

By Mark Vogan

Northeast experiences it’s coldest morning of winter with a -27 degrees at one point at Saranac Lake, New York. Sections of New England including the mountains of Upstate New York likely fell to around -30.

Within the deep snowcovered woods of Northern Minnesota, temps should push 40 below between Wednesday and Saturday!

Brought by a series of Alberta Clippers, brutal air of both Arctic Canada and Siberian origin will advance south and down into the heart of North America through the course of this week. By the Wednesday through Saturday period, it’s likely that Minneapolis may remain below zero and Chicago below 4 or 5 degrees, making this easily the coldest air of winter so far. Thanks to the perfect combination of a truely severe Arctic air mass in place, clear skies, relatively light winds and the interior, continentnal location, far away from warming sea/ocean influences, northern snowfields and woods of North Dakota, Minnesota, and Wisconsin should see nighttime lows dip to between 30 and 40 below zero. Northern Cities stretching from Minot, Fargo and Grand Forks in North Dakota, into Roseau, Theif River Falls, Babbitt across to, International Falls, Tower and Embarrass in Minnesota should see multiple days well below zero and nights which plunge to between 30 and 35 below zero. Some spots should fall below -40 degrees I believe. As for the big Midwestern cities of Minneapolis, Chicago, Detroit, southwards to Indianapolis and Cleveland, lows should drop below zero with a 15 to 18 below, possible in the Twin Cities, 4 to 8, perhaps 10 below in Chicago and between 0 and 5 below in Indianapolis and Cleveland.

A pedestrian walks in a heavy snowfall in Nagoya in Aichi prefecture, central Japan on Monday. (CNN)

Snow slows Japan’s bullet trains, closes Toyota plants
CNN

TODAY’S WEATHER ACROSS AMERICA
From AccuWeather

Ice Storm Aims for Populated Area of Northeast
By Alex Sosnowski, Expert Senior Meteorologist

Roof Collapse Alert for Part of New England
By Alex Sosnowski, Expert Senior Meteorologist

Much-Needed Rain to Come at a Price in Florida
By Meghan Evans, Meteorologist

WEATHER TALK
By Mark Vogan

TAKING A LOOK BACK AT HISTORIC COLDWAVES ACROSS THE USA INCLUDING 1985, 1989, 1994 AND 2009 Courtesy of YouTube

It’s cold out there right? It’s been a cold and long winter as well? Certainly for us Brits, it’s been cold and for most, it feels long despite us seeing a marked warmup. I think it’s feel long for many because it hit early (around November 25th) and lasted through January 10) and it’s only Jan 16, with potentially a lot of winter left.

For folks in the Northeastern and Midwestern US do you think you’ve endured a long, cold winter? By looking at averages, sure it’s been cold and without much in the way of mild weather to break up the persistent chill. For folks across the Southeast, particularly Florida, it has certainly been a long and cold winter for a region not used to cold and snow… However, for folks living in the Midwest and Northeast, it’s not been all that cold when looking and comparing cold from the past, whether it be as recent as the early 2000s when New York dropped to 1 degree with 25 below zero wind chills and 8 below zero in Boston with windchills of 30 below zero. Remember those 30s and even 40s below up in New England. Yes, I’m talking about 2004 when I believe January in many areas was the 2nd or even coldest January on record. The cold was worse back in the 1990s as well as the 1980s and further back. This is “recent” times. Personally, I don’t think low 10s, which has been the lowest readings the I-95 has seen the past two winters are anything to write home about.

As for the Midwest, you only have to go back to January 2009 to have seen remarkable cold drop south from Canada. During the severe outbreak of January 2009, Detroit shivered at 15 below zero, Chicago 18 below zero with some areas out in the far western suburbs plunging to around 36 below zero with windchills in the 50s below zero. Minneapolis plunged to 22 below zero and up in International Falls, it got down to 40 below zero. Even Iowa, fell to 40 below zero… Garrison ND sank to 47 below zero.

During a bitter outbreak in 2005, I remember the 54 below zero reading up in NE Minnesota’s nanook village of Embarrass. International Falls on the border with Fort Frances, Ontario fell to 44 below zero and Babbitt plunged to 51 below zero, during that nasty outbreak, Minneapolis only fell to 11 below zero.

Back in 2004, Minneapolis hit 24 below zero whilst Fosston, Minnesota sank to 50 below zero. The high during that outbreak at Thief River Falls, Minnesota “warmed” to a frigid 24 below zero.

On any given winter, lows typically plunge to around zero or slightly below in Chicago and Detroit, between 10 and 15 below zero in the Twin Cities, 20 and 30 below zero at Grand Forks, North Dakota and 25 to 35 below zero up at International Falls. The past two winter’s cold has been subpar despite perhaps persistently low readings across the Midwest. It certainly hasn’t been a warm winter for either the Midwest and Plains or Northeast but actual low’s so far this winter and last winter have been nothing that bad.

If you need convincing that it’s not been that cold when stepping out these winter morning’s, just look at these youtube videos for severe outbreaks over the 80s and 90s which produced REAL COLD!