Yesterday was a record cold day and today we see new records fall for longest consecutive spell at or below freezing for the month of November.

This is round two of an historic November outbreak that will likely go down as one of the strongest and longest.

I wonder when the last time we had 50% of the US snow covered, this early?

The average is just 14% for this point in the season.

Yesterday morning started off coldest for November across the US as a whole since 1976 according to Weatherbell’s Ryan Maue.

The scale as well as intensity of this outbreak is nothing short of incredible with MANY records dating back as far as 1880 falling.

A lot of the reason for such cold is not just down to the intensity of air mass itself but the fact we got such a huge blanket of snow cover AHEAD of the cold which makes for less weakening further south.

Here’s a stunning NASA satellite capture from yesterday showing the arctic front off the East and Gulf Coast with the country enveloped in a cold, white blanket. Check out the intense lake-effect clouds streaming across the Great Lakes. That’s imagery we’ll remember for a long time to come.

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Chicago will break a 1903 record this morning for most consecutive hours below freezing following a record cold high of 19 and low of 9 (missed a 1880 record by 1 degree).

Consecutive Days of 32 Degrees or Colder in November For Twin Cities

A strong January-like area of high pressure settled in across a large part of the central United States in the wake of the November 10, 2014 storm.

Twin Cities began a streak of “at or below 32 degrees” for a maximum temperature on Monday, November 10 with a high temperature of 31 degrees. The longest stretch of 32 degrees or colder is a cold spell that began on November 16, 1880 and lasted for the rest of November for a streak of 15 days. 11 days has also been reached in 1911, 1985 and 1996. In order to break the all-time November consecutive maximum temperatures of 32 degrees or colder it would have to stay at or below freezing through November 25.

 

Consecutive days of "at or below 32 degrees"
in the Twin Cities (1871-2014)

Streak Began    Streak Ended  Total in Nov.
-------------------------------------------
1880-11-16  to	1880-12-03	15 Days
1911-11-11  to	1911-11-21	11 Days
1985-11-20  to	1985-12-21	11 Days
1996-11-18  to	1996-11-28	11 Days
2014-11-10  to  ????

The all time record for consecutive days at or below 32 degrees for the entire winter in the Twin Cities is 83 days from December 15, 1874 to March 8, 1875.

The core of this arctic air reached the East Coast yesterday. Here were the highs.

Another way to see that the core of cold has shifted into the East is just look at where the lowest dew points are.

Current surface map.

Let’s not forget another astonishing aspect to this cold.. the lake-effect snowstorm that’s being going on now for a solid 3 days.

Buffalo Snow Record Threatened?

Incredible visible satellite image captured yesterday. These cloud streams are narrow, remain persistent for days and drop astonishing amounts of snow in very small areas down wind of the lakes. How do these snow bands form? Strong, very cold WNW winds blow over warm water…

This reminds me of the great 5-day lake-effect snow event in Buffalo, NY back in late Dec, 2001 which saw a record 81 inches of crushing snow within 120 hours (5 days).

Right now I believe there’s between 60-75 inches and it’s still coming down hard in the south Buffalo suburbs, especially around the Seneca area.

Based on 20.1 ratios and rate/duration of snowfall, the record of 81 inches set back in 2001 is likely to be threatened from this epic event! Hope to have pictures tomorrow for you!! In the meantime, follow me on Twitter @MarkVogan

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From weather.com

Cold Notables So Far

– Burlington, Colorado, on the eastern Plains near the Kansas border, dipped to -10 Thursday, setting a new record low for the month of November.

– Casper, Wyoming, dipped to -27 at 11:59 p.m. Wednesday night, shattering their all-time November record low of -21 on Nov. 23, 1985 (records date to 1939). The temperature stayed at -27 at midnight Thursday, making it the new record low for Nov. 13 as well. Previously, the soonest Casper plunged to -27 was on Dec. 5, 1972. Casper’s high of 6 on Nov. 11 was the record earliest single-digit or colder high temperature there. (On Nov. 15, 1955, the high was only -3 degrees). Wednesday, Casper only managed a high of 3 degrees!

– Denver’s high of 6 on Nov. 12 was the coldest daily high so early in the season. Only three other November days had daily high temperatures colder in Denver, dating to 1872. Early Thursday morning, Denver chalked up a bone-chilling -14 degrees, easily the coldest temperature so early in the season. (Nov. 17, 1880 was the previous earliest such cold reading in Denver.)

– Livingston, Montana, dipped to minus 21 Wednesday, their coldest so early in the season. That said, they once dipped to minus 31 degrees just one day later in the calendar, on November 13, 1959.

– In the Southern Plains, Amarillo (21), Lubbock (27),  Childress (29) and Goodland (14) all set their coldest daily high temperatures on record for so early in the season on Wednesday.

– Riverton, Wyoming had a daytime high of 0 degrees Thursday.

– Redmond, Oregon, dropped to 19 degrees below zero Sunday morning, crushing its all-time record low for the month of November, previously 14 below zero on Nov. 15, 1955. Sunday’s low was an astonishing 23 degrees colder than the previous daily record for Nov. 16 in Redmond.

– Kansas City, Missouri set a record cool high of only 23 degrees on Monday, which beat the previous record of 24, which was set back in 1891.

– Joplin, Missouri set a record low for the month of November on Tuesday with a low temperature of 6 degrees.

– Paducah, Kentucky dropped to 10 degrees on Tuesday morning setting a record low and tying the third lowest temperature ever recorded in the month of November.

– Valentine, Nebraska had a low of -12 on Tuesday morning, which shattered their previous record of 0.

– Dallas, Texas, saw highs of 45 degrees or colder for six consecutive days, Nov. 12 through Nov. 17. This is the longest such streak on record there in the month of November, besting a five-day streak in November 1937. (That month had a total of seven non-consecutive days with highs 45 or colder; that record still stands, for now.)

Warming Up?

YES, Pacific warming is now crossing the Rockies into the Plains.

No video today but will have one again tomorrow morning.

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