A powerful storm system crossed the Northern Tier of the US through the weekend bringing the season’s first real blizzard to the Dakotas and western Minnesota. As the system slid east during Sunday it brought Minneapolis it’s 4th largest December snowstorm with a dump of 10.5 inches. Sacred Heart, MN recorded the largest snow total of 17 inches.

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While the snowstorm was impressive, so too was the southbound cold surge as a trough carved out on the backside of the low which pushed the 0F line all the way to Oklahoma and the 10F line well into the Texas Panhandle. The air in Canada, the source of the of the US cold, saw readings of -22F just north of the MN-ON line while up in north-central Ontario, readings hovered at -36F at sunrise yesterday morning, there was widespread readings well into the -30s across Manitoba back west into Saskatchewan.

 

Here are some very cold US values I noticed Monday morning. Some of these temperatures may have been lower at some point yesterday.

-24 at Alamosa, CO (Lowest in US)

-14 at Aberdeen, SD

-10 south of Springview, NE

-9 at North Platte, NE

-6 at Valentine, NE

-2 at Gove, KS

1 at Hooker, OK

6 at Friona, TX

Another Single Digit Morning In Oklahoma

While potent arctic air got all the way to Texas again this morning with teens down to Waco, TX, with a 7 reported at Bristow, OK, it’s less cold across western OK and TX compared to yesterday where readings fell to 1F at Hooker, OK and 9F at Amarillo, TX but further east and lows this morning are down in the 20s in Downtown Dallas while some suburbs are in the low teens. OKC fell into the teens. Lows in Kansas fell to the low teens rather than low single digits or just below zero yesterday morning and for Nebraska and the Dakotas, lows this morning stayed in positive single digits. Up in Saskatchewan, this morning was coldest of the season with a reading of at least -42F in a remote central part of the province.

Chicago, Milwaukee, Des Moines & Omaha Records Longest Streak Without Measurable Snow

While we are back to talking about cold weather again and northern snows, the combination of lack of snow this season so far and the mild, snowless winter last year, Chicago, Milwaukee, Des Moines and Omaha amongst other cities have recorded their longest period without measurable snow. Amazingly, the snowstorm which impacted Minneapolis over the weekend, brought over half (51%) of ALL the snow the city received last winter in one storm. Just shows you how little snow there was in winter 2011-12.

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Tags: arctic air, cold, record cold, snow, snowstorm