Chill in the air: record low temps in 10 states

As many readers know, we’ve had an earlier than normal start to fall weather in the USA, and the cold just keeps on coming. Here is a summary of record low temperatures seen recently, courtesy of this website called IceAgeNow.

Record Lows – 2008

Record low temperatures in the United States

click here to see 2003, 2002, 2001 and 2000

Click here to see 2005, 20042005, 2006, 2007

See a table of some October 2008 temps below:

Date

City

Degrees

Fahrenheit

Oct 24

Record low

Montague, CA

Traverse City, MI  Breaks old record of 24 set in 1976

Islip, NY  31 tie

Pocatello, ID  Ties previous record set in 1949

.

26

22

31 tie

18 tie

Oct 24

Record rainfall

Pensacola, FL—3.3”

Columbus, GA—2.00”

Macon, GA—2.51” Breaks old record of 2.00” set in 1919

Oct 23

Record low temperatures in 10 states!

Rome, OR  Breaks old record of 20 set in 1980

Caribou, ME   Breaks old record of 21 set in 1982

Winslow, AZ

Traverse City, MI  Breaks old record of 24 set in 1976

Grand Junction, CO  Breaks old record of 26 set in 1996

Hilo, HI

Childress, TX

Seattle, WA

Bountiful, UT

Burley, ID

Idaho Falls, ID  Breaks old record of 18 set in 1958

Challis, ID

Pendleton, OR

Union, OR  Breaks previous record of 20 set in 1980

Walla Walla, WA

Thanks to Chuck Clancy for this info

.

15

20

21 tie

22

23

64 tie

34 tie

39 tie

28 tie

21 tie

17

17 tie

29 tie

17

32 tie

Oct 23

Record snow

A record snowfall of trace was set at Dodge City, KS today. Ties old record set in 2002.

Oct 23

Wettest October on record in Dodge City, KS

4.97 inches of rain as of today, breaking the previous record of 4.94 inches set in 1997

Wettest October on record in Hastings, NE

6.16 inches of rain as of today, breaking the record of 5.82 inches set 111 years ago in 1897

Wettest October on record in Kearney, NE

9.21 inches or rain as of today, breaking the old record of 6.30 inches set in 1946

Kearney may be headed for the wettest year on record

Total precipitation in Kearny so far this year stands at 35.48 inches. With more than two months remaining in the year, this total accumulation already ranks 2008 as the 5th wettest year ever in Kearney, where the all-time record annual rainfall stands at 40.07 inches.

Oct 23

Record rainfall

Lincoln, NE— 2.01”

Oct 22

Record rainfall

Houston, TX—3/70”   Breaks old record of 2.40 inches set in 1920

Oct 23

First snow of the season in Colorado and Nebraska – A vigorous storm pushed southeast and out of the Rockies on Tuesday night, dumping around 20cm (8inches) of snow across parts of Colorado.

Yesterday the storm continued to bring a wintry mix of weather and strong winds across the Central Plains. In O’Neill, Nebraska, snow fell during most of the day.

On Wednesday, Ottawa also saw its first snow of the season. There were also reports of snow across many northeastern states, including parts of New York and Pennsylvania.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/weather/world/news/23102008news.shtml

Oct 22

Record lows

Marquette, MI

Rome, OR

Traverse City, MI  Breaks old record of 26 set in 1955

Alpena, MI

Bryce Canyon, UT

Pocatello, ID

.

21 tie

23 tie

22

20 tie

14 tie

18 tie

Oct 21

Record lows

Hilo, HI

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swampie
October 28, 2008 3:19 am

JimB, I’ve said many times that it is foolish to put so much faith in people that sit on their butts all day in a climate-controlled office staring at a computer model. Ask somebody that’s spent their life outdoors, and I’m not talking about an 18-year-old surfer.
/Heading out to feed the livestock on a record cold day for both highs and lows in my section of Florida.

October 28, 2008 3:32 am

I got about an inch of snow here in the Catskills last night. About three weeks too early.
Yeah… yeah… Weather is not climate. However climate is a collection of discreet weather data points. And this is just one more in the same general direction.
I am going to have to change the name of my periodic lecture from Much Ado About Global Warming to Avoiding the Dire Consequences of Global Cooling.

stephen richards
October 28, 2008 3:58 am

Hey Anthony
The Brit Met office is forecasting 2 consequetive nights of frost. For October, if they occur, that is very rare, I think.
sorry about conseq;;;; don’t know if that is spelt right

Frank. Lansner
October 28, 2008 4:55 am

Mary Hinge:
Thanks for your last writing with some nice information.
But this “party thing” of yours is a little out of place.
La Nina IS starting up any moment now says even NOAA:
http://www.cpc.ncep.noaa.gov/products/people/wwang/cfs_fcst/images/glbSSTSea.gif
Notice that it will proceed at least into the middle of 2009.
BUT! Its true the pressure difference making up the SOI can be wrong. However 9 weeks in a row with SOI so much higher than 6, has it ever not included a La nina? Has it ever not ment falling global temperatures??

October 28, 2008 4:56 am

Wooo hooo… the forecast for my neck of the woods is now up to 9 inches.

Today: Rain and snow, becoming all snow after 2pm. High near 36. Breezy, with a north wind between 15 and 23 mph, with gusts as high as 34 mph. Chance of precipitation is 100%. Total daytime snow accumulation of 3 to 5 inches possible.
Tonight: Snow, mainly before 2am. Low around 29. Windy, with a northwest wind between 23 and 26 mph, with gusts as high as 43 mph. Chance of precipitation is 90%. New snow accumulation of 2 to 4 inches possible.

This is an unheard of amount of snow for the past 20 years. Looks like a big turnout for my next Global Cooling lecture – unless it gets snowed out!!

stephen richards
October 28, 2008 5:11 am

I meant to add , IN LONDON CITY !!!!!
Now that’s rare

Editor
October 28, 2008 5:31 am

JimB (01:44:12) :

Apparently, AGW has had a significant impact on Walden Pond…time for another concert?
http://blog.wired.com/wiredscience/2008/10/climate-change.html

I heard a story about this on a Boston radio station. It would take hours or days to look into it, the paper says remarkably little, at least if you don’t know the species names of everything in a cool graphic that can only be read at 400% magnification.
Just from the number of species, I think covers mostly wildflowers. It refers to dogwoods, but genus cornus includes dogwood trees, that I associated with warmer areas, and Bunchberry, a 6″ tall wildflower that I associate with cooler areas.
Both are listed by the paper (in fact, dogwoods are called out for major declines). The paper looked at some other effects, suggests climate change “may” be involved and runs with it for the rest of the paper:

Although habitat loss due to succession and development (e.g., loss of wetlands, abandonment of farms, reforestation, and construction of homes and roads) has contributed to decreases in abundance for some species in Thoreau’s Concord (20), climate change may also help to explain the seemingly nonrandom pattern of species loss among certain plant groups.

A decade or two ago, acid rain would sure to be blamed, no mention in this paper. My suspicion is that reduced logging of firewood has allowed wooded areas to become more dense leading to shade stress. That’s another reason I looked at dogwoods, they like a fair amount of sunlight. One of the few patches of dogwood trees in New Hampshire is struggling due to forest growth. Another affected plant, Bluets, also likes moderate sun.
The paper is from the Harvard University Herbaria, which I think has a good reputation.
I wish I had more time to investigate. Ah well, next spring there will be plenty of Bunchberries, Bluets, and violets (they like moderate sun too) up here in cold New Hampshire.
In the meantime, it looks like Dee Norris may be getting a good early snowstorm.

JimB
October 28, 2008 6:15 am

Ric Werme (05:31:27) :
“One of the few patches of dogwood trees in New Hampshire is struggling due to forest growth. Another affected plant, Bluets, also likes moderate sun.”
Ric,
They are struggling due to AGW. In fact, they are in imminent danger. Oh wait…it’s just Walden Pond.
Why are only the lilacs at Walden Pond effected?…Why only the roses there? Given that the MSM loves to sensationlize whenever possible, it’s a wonder that the local press hasn’t announced this as a state-wide…New England wide issue.
Jim

kim
October 28, 2008 7:01 am

Mary Hinge (02:44:58) Frank. Lansdner (04:55:53) is right, the NOAA CFS ensemble suggests La Nina into the middle of next year.
H/t David Smith.
==================================

Basil
Editor
October 28, 2008 9:20 am

On whether or not La Nina is ramping back up, I like getting Klaus Wolter’s take on things:
http://www.cdc.noaa.gov/people/klaus.wolter/SWcasts/index.html
A couple of quotes:
1. While the 2007-08 La Niña event almost disappeared this summer, at least in terms of sea surface temperatures, it appears to have kept an atmospheric ‘footprint’ right into the fall. Global atmospheric circulation anomalies have ‘stubbornly’ retained La Niña-like features, such as a wet “dry season” in Indonesia and mostly stronger-than-normal trade winds over the tropical Pacific. While most forecasts show continued near-neutral conditions into the upcoming winter, a return of La Niña is still possible, especially since moderate-to-strong La Niña events like the last one often return for an encore performance.

4. Bottomline: My summer monsoon forecast appears to have hit the target in much of the southwestern U.S., including a dry summer in northern Utah and north-central Colorado, and wet conditions from southwestern New Mexico into the plains of eastern Colorado. Where this season has been wet, drought conditions have improved, especially in eastern Colorado. The overall ENSO situation remains somewhat unsettled, leaving the door open for a return to La Niña this fall, or a gradual transition into El Niño in 2009. Unfortunately, my (dry) outlook into October-December is more consistent with the former scenario than the latter. The subsequent winter season shows more of a mixed message, leaving the possibility of at least adequate moisture in the mountains of Utah, Colorado and New Mexico.

Basil
Editor
October 28, 2008 9:25 am

We had frost this morning in Central Arkansas (thermostat said 31 when I looked at it at 7:30AM). This is a couple of weeks early for the first frost, and we set a new record low overnight.
I don’t think this is just “weather.” It is a sign of how the cool phase of the PDO influences weather in the midwest and midsouth. You can see a nice little graphic of the difference here:
http://www.glerl.noaa.gov/pubs/brochures/laninaflyer/fig4.gif

Editor
October 28, 2008 10:14 am

JimB (06:15:13) :

Why are only the lilacs at Walden Pond [affected]?…Why only the roses there? Given that the MSM loves to sensationlize whenever possible, it’s a wonder that the local press hasn’t announced this as a state-wide…New England wide issue.

The interest in Walden Pond is both historical (one of the authors commented he’d like to be able to show his children something that looked much like it did to Thoreau) and botanical.
Thoreau kept records of flowering dates and other events, I don’t know how many other sites have that sort of records. The researchers could then identify shifts in those dates as examples of warming. Lake Mohonk in NY has that sort of record.
The only other related stuff I’m familiar with in New England are dates of ice-out on major lakes and dates of tapping maple trees for sap.
I’ve only visited Walden Pond once and wasn’t terribly impressed. Just a kettle pond (a pond formed by glacial till deposited around a chunk of glacier) with typical woods around it. I could see it being interesting in the 1800s, but there are lots of areas with more varied terrain. My wife and I bought a large lot on the SE side of Mt. Cardigan. Swamp, streams, hillside, big erratics, exposed bedrock. Too much logging, but a southern exposure and current elevated CO2 levels may fix that faster than I expected. Hunters got a big moose there a couple weeks ago and gave us 20 pounds on Sunday. Moose stew last night. Very good moose stew….

Jeff Alberts
October 28, 2008 10:23 am

Although habitat loss due to succession and development (e.g., loss of wetlands, abandonment of farms, reforestation, and construction of homes and roads) has contributed to decreases in abundance for some species in Thoreau’s Concord (20), climate change may also help to explain the seemingly nonrandom pattern of species loss among certain plant groups.

MAY also help explain… Famous weasel words which really mean “we have to add AGW in so our funding comes through”. Let’s see some actual evidence that a half degree C average rise (if it’s actually that much) causes plants to die.

Steve Berry
October 28, 2008 10:47 am

Antarctic sea ice above average again
http://nsidc.org/data/seaice_index/s_plot_daily.html

Dave Johnson
October 28, 2008 10:51 am

Philip_B (13:48:26) :
It was heavy rain and flooding that led to the cancellation of the mountain marathon in the UK Lake District, not the cold. I was there. Having said that it is very cold today

Pierre Gosselin
October 28, 2008 12:24 pm

Dee,
I just read the weather forecast for my old hometown, and it sounds identical to what you just posted.
Is your neck of the woods up in Upstate NY or Vermont?
I’m from Vermont.
Reply: I am in the Shangra-la of New York: The western Catskill Mountains where I now have 6+ inches of wet snow. – Dee Norris

Roy
October 28, 2008 1:04 pm

I’m struggling with this item from the BBC: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/7696070.stm
“The cold air originates in the Arctic and it has not been polluted, which is why it feels so crisp.” (Attributed to Kevin Hogg, of the Met Office.)
It’s in quotes on the BBC site, so presumably he actually uttered these exact words.

R John
October 28, 2008 6:03 pm

Anyone notice the HUGE area under a freeze warning tonight? I don’t ever recall seeing such a large expanse of the south, especially in October, seeing widespread freezing temperatures.
See the map at http://www.nws.noaa.gov

Steve Berry
October 29, 2008 12:46 am

Here in south England we’ve just had nine hours of snowfall – while the leaves are all still on the trees. In my 50 years I’ve never known snowfall like that in October in southern England. Just weather, of course, but I hope that’s all!

Flanagan
October 29, 2008 1:45 am

Waa, it’s cold in some place at this time of the year, what a surprise!
Did anyone notice that the AMSU global temperatures are rightnow simply the highest ever measured for this time of the year? This once again points in the direction that temperatures are increasing again after the huge la nina we had… So much for the “predicted” global cooling…

Mike Bryant
October 29, 2008 2:02 am

Roy,
I think “crisp” is the new politically correct word for “cold” which has been officially removed from public discourse. Please, everyone, adjust your thinking and vocabulary.

Mary Hinge
October 29, 2008 3:08 am

kim (07:01:59) :
” Lansdner (04:55:53) is right, the NOAA CFS ensemble suggests La Nina into the middle of next year.”
Basil (09:20:29) :
“The overall ENSO situation remains somewhat unsettled, leaving the door open for a return to La Niña this fall, ”
Frank. Lansner (04:55:53) :
“La Nina IS starting up any moment now says even NOAA…
….However 9 weeks in a row with SOI so much higher than 6, has it ever not included a La nina? Has it ever not ment falling global temperatures??
OK, I see, not for the first time that I am outnumbered here but I can confirm that the probability of a La Nina returning this SH summer is very low. The NOAA model uses the SOI as its main bias, but this year the Eastern Pacific is not reading the script. The very latest forecast in OZ is as follows:
CURRENT STATUS as at 29th October 2008
Summary: ENSO conditions to remain neutral
Neutral ENSO conditions still prevail in the Pacific Basin. There have been only minor fluctuations in ocean temperatures across the tropical Pacific Ocean in the past three weeks, with surface temperatures now close to their long-term average across the basin. Subsurface waters are cooler than normal in the eastern Pacific, suggesting the possibility of further surface cooling over the coming weeks. The current conditions have been maintained by slightly stronger than normal trade winds, particularly over the western half of the equatorial Pacific. As a result, the SOI remains positive and has increased in the past three weeks to +14.
Given current conditions, trends over the past few months and climate model forecasts, neutral conditions are likely to remain until the end of the year and throughout the southern summer – there is now very little potential for El Niño or La Niña conditions to develop. The Indian Ocean Dipole is now neutral and displaying only week-to-week variations. It is expected to remain neutral for the coming few months. About IOD.

The increase in the trade winds have reduced further the small possibility of an El Nino. If a La Nina does form in late summer/early autumn it will be a very weak event and still unlikely at this stage.
As I said earlier, it won’t be too long before we know who is right but one thing is for sure, there is some strange weather out there!

Mary Hinge
October 29, 2008 3:17 am

Flanagan (01:45:38) :
“Did anyone notice that the AMSU global temperatures are right now simply the highest ever measured for this time of the year? ”
The majority on this blog won’t believe you, if the data doesn’t show cooling the results must be either faulty, skewed, unbalanced, fraudulent, lies or part of a great AGW conspiracy. I bet some are already thinking this is caused by UHI!!

Steve Berry
October 29, 2008 3:21 am

Flanagan. I don’t know which planet you’re talking about, but it’s not this one http://discover.itsc.uah.edu/amsutemps/execute.csh?amsutemps+004

kim
October 29, 2008 5:21 am

Mary Hinge (03:08:21) Did you even look at the graph of the NOAA’s CFS ensemble? La Nina from now until mid next year.
Mary Hinge (03:17:58) If you are right, being outnumbered won’t make you wrong. Did you check the figures, or are you just blathering? Please, don’t be silly.
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