From NWS Duluth, MN, an old record beaten by five degrees:
RECORD EVENT REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DULUTH MN
518 PM CST FRI JAN 21 2011
...RECORD LOW TEMPERATURE SET AT INTERNATIONAL FALLS MN...
A RECORD LOW TEMPERATURE OF -46 DEGREES WAS SET AT INTERNATIONAL
FALLS MN TODAY. THIS BREAKS THE OLD RECORD OF -41 SET IN 1954.
Here is a map (above) of a few notable low temperatures across the area. The contoured shading in the background was created by interpolating the observations using GIS software. Therefore, the contours may not necessarily match individual observations, but the overall trend in temperatures is pretty close. Areas near Lake Superior managed to stay much warmer than outlying areas, and you can even detect a hint of urban heat influences around the Twin Cities.
The above pictures are from Babbitt, Minnesota where a frigid morning low temperature of -46 degrees was recorded on January 21, 2011. The pictures were taken by observer Ryan Scharber. The pictures show ice fog, which is usually a shallow fog consisting of suspended ice crystals. Ice fog usually only occurs when temperatures fall below -22 degrees Fahrenheit (-30 Celsius) according to the AMS Glossary. Normally, fog consists of tiny water droplets, or supercooled water droplets. However, when temperatures are as cold as they were this morning in parts of northern Minnesota, it becomes too cold for liquid water to exist, and small ice crystals can develop if the amount of water vapor in the air is sufficient.
Some notes of interest:
- The lowest temperatures recorded in the NWS Duluth county warning area were -46 degrees at both International Falls, MN (ASOS) and Babbitt, MN (CO-OP).
- The -46 degree low was tied for the 5th lowest on record at International Falls. Temperature records date back to 1897. The record is -55 degrees which was recorded on January 6, 1909.
- The -46 degree low was tied for the lowest on record at the International Falls Airport. The official observing station was moved to the airport in 1939. This is tied with the -46 degree reading from January 6, 1968.
- The -25 degree low at Duluth is tied for the 5th lowest minimum temperature in the last decade (since 2000). The lowest minimum temperature of the 2000s thus far has been -30 on January 29, 2004.
- The state record low temperature in Minnesota was recorded at Tower, Minnesota on February 2, 1996. The low was -60 degrees. That was also the coldest temperature ever recorded east of the Mississippi River.
- The state record low temperature in Wisconsin was recorded at Couderay on February 2nd and February 4th of 1996. The temperatures dipped down to -55 degrees both nights.
List Of Coldest Morning Lows
THE FOLLOWING ARE OBSERVED LOW TEMPERATURES THROUGH 900 AM FRIDAY JANUARY 21 2011. TEMPERATURES ARE IN DEGREES FAHRENHEIT. TEMP LOCATION ST COUNTY SOURCE ---- ----------------------- -- -------------- ------- -46 INTERNATIONAL FALLS MN KOOCHICHING ASOS -46 BABBITT MN ST LOUIS COOP -43 EMBARRASS MN ST LOUIS COOP -43 BIGFORK MN ITASCA RAWS -43 ASH LAKE MN ST LOUIS MNDOT -43 EFFIE MN ITASCA RAWS -40 LITTLEFORK MN KOOCHICHING COOP -40 BIRCHDALE MN KOOCHICHING MNDOT TEMP LOCATION ST COUNTY SOURCE ---- ----------------------- -- -------------- ------- -39 ORR MN ST LOUIS RAWS -38 MINONG WI WASHBURN RAWS -38 CASS LAKE MN CASS RAWS -38 SQUAW LAKE MN ITASCA MNDOT -38 CUTFOOT MN ITASCA RAWS -38 BOVEY MN ITASCA PRIVATE -38 KABETOGAMA MN ST LOUIS COOP -38 CRANE LAKE MN ST LOUIS AWOS -37 MARGIE MN KOOCHICHING MNDOT -37 HILL CITY MN ITASCA RAWS -37 ELY MN ST LOUIS RAWS -37 RICE LAKE MN AITKIN RAWS -36 LONG LAKE MN ITASCA PRIVATE -36 JACOBSON MN AITKIN MNDOT -36 BARNES WI BAYFIELD RAWS -36 COTTON MN ST LOUIS MNDOT -36 MAKINEN MN ST LOUIS PRIVATE -36 LONGVILLE MN CASS AWOS -36 PINE RIVER MN CASS AWOS -36 SEAGULL LAKE MN COOK RAWS -36 WRIGHT MN ST LOUIS COOP -35 LAKE VERMILION MN ST LOUIS PRIVATE -35 KABETOGAMA MN ST LOUIS RAWS TEMP LOCATION ST COUNTY SOURCE ---- ----------------------- -- -------------- ------- -34 MCGRATH MN AITKIN MNDOT -34 ASH RIVER MN ST LOUIS PRIVATE -34 GUNFLINT LAKE MN COOK COOP -34 HAYWARD WI SAWYER RAWS -34 LIND WI BURNETT RAWS -34 MOOSE LAKE MN CARLTON RAWS -33 GRAND RAPIDS MN ITASCA AWOS -33 SAGINAW MN ST LOUIS MNDOT -33 COHASSET MN ITASCA PRIVATE -33 MCGREGOR MN AITKIN AWOS -33 AITKIN MN AITKIN AWOS -33 HIBBING MN ST LOUIS RAWS -33 JENKINS MN CROW WING PRIVATE -33 EMILY MN CROW WING MNDOT -33 BRAINERD MN CROW WING ASOS -33 MOOSE LAKE MN CARLTON AWOS -33 SOUTH RANGE WI DOUGLAS PRIVATE -32 GRANTSBURG WI BURNETT PRIVATE -31 SILVER BAY MN LAKE AWOS -31 TWO HARBORS MN LAKE AWOS -31 LEADER MN CASS PRIVATE -31 DEER RIVER MN ITASCA PRIVATE -31 SIREN WI BURNETT AWOS -31 GRANTSBURG WI BURNETT WIDOT -31 HINCKLEY MN PINE PRIVATE -30 BREEZY POINT MN CROW WING PRIVATE -30 TUCKER LAKE MN COOK PRIVATE -30 GLIDDEN WI ASHLAND RAWS -30 GORDON WI DOUGLAS RAWS TEMP LOCATION ST COUNTY SOURCE ---- ----------------------- -- -------------- ------- -29 I-35 MILE 198 MN PINE MNDOT -29 SEELEY WI SAWYER PRIVATE -29 4W CLAM LAKE WI BAYFIELD PRIVATE -29 CANOSIA TOWNSHIP MN ST LOUIS PRIVATE -29 GILBERT MN ST LOUIS PRIVATE -29 ISABELLA MN LAKE RAWS -28 10 NE DULUTH MN ST LOUIS SCHOOL -28 AURORA MN ST LOUIS PRIVATE -28 NISSWA MN CROW WING PRIVATE -28 MERRIFIELD MN CROW WING PRIVATE -27 SPOONER WI WASHBURN SCHOOL -27 HERMANTOWN MIDDLE SCHOOL MN ST LOUIS SCHOOL -27 HAUGEN WI WASHBURN WIDOT -26 DRUMMOND WI BAYFIELD SCHOOL -26 SUPERIOR WI DOUGLAS AWOS -26 PHILLIPS WI PRICE AWOS -25 FERNBERG MN LAKE RAWS -25 WASHBURN WI BAYFIELD RAWS -25 PINE CITY MN PINE SCHOOL -25 DULUTH MN ST LOUIS ASOS -24 DULUTH THOMPSON HILL MN ST LOUIS MNDOT -24 I-35 MILE 181 MN PINE MNDOT -22 HIGH BRIDGE WI ASHLAND PRIVATE -22 MAPLE WI DOUGLAS PRIVATE -22 BLATNIK BRIDGE MN ST LOUIS MNDOT -21 LESTER PARK / DULUTH MN ST LOUIS PRIVATE -21 SILVER CREEK MN LAKE PRIVATE -20 CHESTER PARK / DULUTH MN ST LOUIS PRIVATE
============
BTW, International Falls holds the registered trademark of Icebox of the Nation
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It’s a dry cold, so it’s not that bad. 😉
It only dropped to a balmy -20F down here by the Iowa border. I guess they got more global warming up north than we do.
When I was in Russia in winter (1990), I did wonder how they would start the diesel truck in -28oc. Answer? They lit a wood fire under the engine. Good job their engines didn’t include any new-fangled and sensitive electronics.
.
Gosh.
I mean – crikey …
Ok – I will try hard not to complain about the cold here in South Wales, when it is just below 28F .
Mind – it does feel horrid because it is still damp. Well, that’s my excuse anyway!
There was a commercial in the ’70’s that asked the question: “How many licks does it take to get to the Tootsie Roll (TM) centre of a Tootsie Pop(TM)?” I think the question should be put to the Carbonistas: “How many record low temperature settings (sorry ‘freak weather events’) does it take to get the BBC to admit AGW does not exist?” The same could be asked with “How many rejected FOI requests…” or “How many corrupted data streams…” or “How many failed temperature predictions…” etc.
Puckster said “it hit -60 in Embarrass (Ohhh, the irony) at the NWS weather box (Ohhh, the irony) and they had a protable guage showing the same temperature. They then proceeded to walk about 200 yds to a hollow where it read -70. Yeah, it gets that good living in Minnesoooota.”
and
Gordon Hommes said “The -60F set near Tower in 1996 was the coldest reading ever recorded in the US , east of the Great Plains”.
and
“What’s really cool is that after a long spell of cold weather, a temperature of zero can feel quite mild!”
—————————————————————————
I was working in the nearby iron mines when it hit 60 below. I believe Puckster and Gordon are talking about the same day in 1996 when it got so cold. Embarrass and Tower are only 14 miles apart.
I do remember the comments at the time that it was much colder nearby (-70?), but that it was not an official measurement.
I also remember the ice fog early that morning. It was the first time I had seen it. Very pretty, but also very strange how the crystals reflected in the car headlights.
Along the lines of Gordon’s comment, after staying at or below -40 for a about a week, it warmed up to 20 below there overnight. It felt positively balmy the next morning. Put a little extra spring in your step being so warm!
As far as cold places, though, I used to roughneck in the natural gas fields in Wyoming. One area we frequently worked around was Big Piney, WY. The sign outside of town said “Welcome to the Icebox of the Nation”.
Growing up elsewhere, on TV Big Piney, Wyoming was often noted as the coldest spot in the country. After a while it seemed as if you never heard about it anymore. The locals said it was because television got tired of announcing the same location every day and that’s when you started hearing about Internationals Falls, etc.
I don’t have a clue if that is true or not, but having worked winters in both places, I’ll take a winter in I’Falls over one in Big Piney anytime. At least I’Falls has trees to break up the wind; Big Piney has nothing to stop it. Neither is pleasant, though.
Amino Acids in Meteorites said: “Joe Bastardi, 8:42 video”
I enjoyed that. Don’t watch Bastardi often and alway think his jackets are too big but he provides interesting information, is enthusiastic about his work and happy to admit what he doesn’t know.
Philip Mulholland said: “Record cold also in Korea.”
Made worse by the Government’s encouragement of electricity over kerosene and diesel for energy. Prices of the latter fuels have gone up and electricity prices have been subsidised. Now they have been hit with a hard winter and the people are using lots of electric heaters to the point of reserves of power becoming quite precarious.
The source of their problems is a plan to double electric generation in the next 15 years by building more power stations. A good infrastructure plan to provide reliable energy using less fuel, improving air quality and convenience but this winter has caught them off guard. The changes in energy prices due to subsidies and taxes has caused people to move to electric heating in large numbers, quicker than expected it would seem.
I was down in Tampa, Florida on business last December, and it was maybe 40 F in the morning, but the folks down there were wearing heavy coats and shivering! I guess everyone has a different perception of “cold”.
Western New Hampshire will be seeing near -15 F tomorrow morning and -20 F on Monday morning. Hope my car starts…
For those interested in what happens to waterfalls here’s a video:
I live in Southern Minnesota a good 300 miles south of International Falls and we had a balmy -20°F yesterday. However, that was UHI enhanced as local small cities were -26°F or colder. I’ve been checking the UHI this past month as I go out of town early in the mornings about once a week. On one morning it was 8°F when I left and got as cold as -4°F in the county. The UHI has varied from 4-12 °F on EVERY trip and I live on the outskirts of the city and do not experience the full effect. It’s not unusual for me to see 2-3 °F UHI when I drive from downtown to my home.
While this spell has been cold it is far from unusual. We’ve had times where the highs do not get above 0°F for a whole week and stay below freezing for a month or two. Wind chills of – 80-100°F are the ones to worry about.
I’ve never experienced -40F, but when going to You Tube type in water guns in frigid Alaska-the videos are fun to watch.
I went from New Mexico to Kansas City one winter years ago and waiting on the curb at the airport I thought I was going to freeze! I looked at the sign and it was only 30 deg but it was sooo cold. I guessed that it was because Missouri is a more humid climate. Is that what it is like in Minn.?
I’ve been in -14 deg weather here in Colorado and though it was cold, it wasn’t bitter like it felt in Kansas City. Can’t even imagine a humid -40 deg cold. You all are built of strong stuff up there.
No Anthony. Equating Canada to my tiny part of the world would be just as foolish as picking one night in Minn. as proof that thwe world is getting cooler. I’m glad to see you understand my point- global includes places outside the US.
BTW after the rain came last night 3C it fell to -8C by this morning. Weird swings happen.
Some day I’ll be able to post the video . . . but for now. From the Minnesotans For Global Warming . . . . Frozen Wasteland
A very talented banjo . . . . . I must say so . . .
and for an encore . . . .
Minnesotans For Global Warming Song (If We Had Some Global Warming)
*****
John McManus says:
January 22, 2011 at 7:20 am
I’m glad to see you understand my point- global includes places outside the US.
*****
Brilliant! Many thanks! If you hadn’t pointed that out, no one here would have realized it.
In SW Virginia, I was driving along in Jan 1994 & the temps were around -20F, there was a very thick ice-fog close to the ground. Descending down to the New River from higher elevation, I could see a distinct, uplifted “mountain” of ice-fog above it & upon reaching the river, came underneath it. It was actually clear immediately above the river, its warmth pushing up the ice-fog layer making a distinct underside several hundred feet up. As I drove along the river, a visibly-rotating, fog-filled vortex rising from the center of the river up into the ice-fog cloud above came into view — hundreds of feet tall & prb’ly 10 feet in diameter, twisting & turning like a tornado.
My very first & last “ice-fog devil”.
Up until now, there did not seem to be much ice on Lake Superior. I wonder, if and when, the lake will freeze over this year.
A frozen Lake Superior is usually worthy of some news coverage. It’s hard to spin that event into AGW. Not that they won’t try, but it can’t pass the smell test for the average viewer.
….and?
I’ve seen it dip to -5 F in Altanta, and -2 F in Florida? So what? In the 1970s, Miami had snow weighing down palm trees. Odds are it will not be happening any time soon, or ever again. But even if it did, no one in climatology ever said the warming trend–which almost all agree on–would be linear.
The ARCTIC is not any colder. In fact the North Pole is warmer in recent decades than usual. The reason–as has been pointed out over and over and over and over and over and over and over–that that sub-Artic Circle North America is getting occasionally hit with colder temps in recent years is the accelerated rate of meltwater from the ice northward, and the resultant shifting of air currents that bring cold. As predicted in the AGW model, Europe too is seeing cooler temps. And, it takes a hell of a lot of energy to PUSH that cold air–which is usually relatively stagnant near the poles and trapped by other air current circulation–southward. That energy, of course, is supplied by global warming. More evaporation from loss of sea ice is also the proximate reason we’re getting unusually high levels of snow this year–also long and consistently predicted by the standard AGW modeling.
Meanwhile, summer temps in most other areas of the world are soaring to new records every year. Yes, it’s warm in the South, for example, but several days hanging around 103 to a damnable 108 F is too much even for the corn, folks.
E.M.Smith says:
January 21, 2011 at 5:15 pm
I have never been so happy to be trapped in The Peoples Republic Of California where I’ve just returned from Starbucks wearing a knit polo shirt and ‘dockers’ type pants with sandals…
*****
Just so you know, Starbucks is a big supporter and promoter of Cap and Trade. We’ve been boycotting them since last spring.
Those from MN know that while IFalls tries to claim the moniker of “Icebox of the Nation,” locally Embarrass, MN (not making this up) is always colder.
the average viewer.
Roasted Earth says:
January 22, 2011 at 11:04 am
….and?
I’ve seen it dip to -5 F in Altanta, and -2 F in Florida? So what? In the 1970s, Miami had snow weighing down palm trees. Odds are it will not be happening any time soon, or ever again. But even if it did, no one in climatology ever said the warming trend–which almost all agree on–would be linear.
The ARCTIC is not any colder. In fact the North Pole is warmer in recent decades than usual. The reason–as has been pointed out over and over and over and over and over and over and over–that that sub-Artic Circle North America is getting occasionally hit with colder temps in recent years is the accelerated rate of meltwater from the ice northward, and the resultant shifting of air currents that bring cold. As predicted in the AGW model, Europe too is seeing cooler temps.
All very wonderful of course. But some of us here at WUWT are a tad fussy about our predictions – call us quaint, but we have this old fashioned idea that predictions should refer to the future, not the past.
Who in the mainstream AGW camp, and the AGW-controlled media, was saying, 5 or 10 years ago, that Europe and USA should prepare for colder winters due to global warming, from melting Arctic ice?
No-one.
OK dig up some abstract from who-knows where, showing it was predicted. But the publically presented science was linear warming. Politically expedient, scientifically idiotic. The CRU predicted officially that winter snow in the UK would be a thing of the past. Singing from the wrong hymn sheet? No talk of melting Arctic bringing cold winters then. Only now.
I think you’ll find quite a lot of AGWs predicted temp increase with the implied assumption – as shown in charts – of linear warming.
You can edit people – remove inconvenient scientists from journals and committies, you can edit mainstream news, but – sorry to break this to you – you cant edit the past.
Climate is cooling. Get help if you cant cope with this.
Roasted Earth says:
January 22, 2011 at 11:04 am
You do realise that what you are proposing perfectly describes a Negative Feedback Loop?
Not exactly consistent with AGW theory………
[snip – taunt – adds nothing to the dialog]
Very well.
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/06/100611093710.htm
http://www.whoi.edu/page.do?pid=12455&tid=282&cid=10046
http://www.commondreams.org/views04/0130-11.htm
Something of interest. When the -60˚F temperature was recorded in Tower, there were readings that it was colder in surrounding areas… but no official records could be found.
You can find the records for all Minnesota weather stations here:
http://climate.umn.edu/hidradius/radius.asp
Duluth goes back to about 1874 and Fort Snelling back into the 1860s.
Tower was traditionally the cold spot in Minnesota, but I think the title moved to Embarrass in the past 12 years when the weather station was moved and extremely low temperatures began to be recorded when it wasn’t all that cold in Tower.
That region of Minnesota is famous for it’s frigid winter nights. Embarrass was below -40˚F on 13 nights in January 1996 and was below -50˚F on 6 occasions that winter. Gardeners and the few futile farming attempts are hampered by frequent summer frosts and freezes. During particularly cool summers, you may not get more 2-3 weeks without a freeze. 2004 was particularly bad with average lows in the mid 30s in June, near 40 in July, and in the upper 30s in August. Similarly cold nights were frequent in 2009.
So really, this cold wave was nothing unusual. But they have become much less common in recent years. The cold of December/January 2004/05 was impressive in northern MN but went unnoticed further south. The cold in January 2004 was more impressive and similar to what we just experienced. As far as nasty cold waves are concerned, the one that hit in February 2007 was particularly nasty because 1) It occurred in what was otherwise a very mild winter and 2) Despite little snow cover across the state (only a few inches), temperatures during the day were held to the teens and 20s below zero. So while we didn’t see -50˚F in that wave because of lack of snow, it was probably still the most potent cold wave since 1996.
It’s cold here in Pennsylvania. Here in Altoona, it got dow to -4 in town (but not that cold at the airport, which doesn’t reflect Altoona’s microclimate), but nothing compared to out in Minnesota. Our local meteorologist said that we were going to have a warm January but a cold February in his wintercast. If the current pattern holds true, and we’ve had an average to cold January, February could be like 1979 and March could be like 1960. If that happens, I’ll have snow in my yard until May.
There hasn’t been any warming lately because Al Gore hasn’t been producing as much hot air lately. That’s the REAL reason.