Jim River, AK closed in on the all time record coldest temperature of -80°F set in 1971, which is not only the Alaska all-time record, but the record for the entire United States. Unfortunately, it seems the battery died in the weather station just at the critical moment.
While the continental USA has a mild winter and has set a number of high temperature records in the last week and pundits ponder whether they will be blaming the dreaded “global warming” for those temperatures, Alaska and Canada have been suffering through some of the coldest temperatures on record during the last week.
For example in Circle Hot Springs, AK on Sunday, 29 Jan 2012 the HIGH temperature was a blistering -49°F, breaking the -44°F record which has stood since 1917. It gets better.
That same day in Circle Hot Springs the low temperature was -58°F breaking the old record of -52°F set in 1941 by six degrees.
Here’s a list of temperature records in Alaska from the past week:
Brrr!
While all that was happening, the weather station in Jim River, AK closed in on the all time record coldest temperature of -80°F set in 1971. That’s not only the Alaska all-time record, but the record for the entire United States. Unfortunately, the weather station stopped reporting at -79°F.
Here’s the data feed at that moment:
2012-01-28 14:20:00,1028.30,-75.0,-87.6,39,,,1021.19,-55.3,-57.7,85,1.5,155 2012-01-28 14:35:00,1028.00,-77.0,-89.5,39,,,1021.19,-54.2,-65.3,48,1.5,155 2012-01-28 14:50:00,1027.90,-75.0,-87.6,39,,,1021.84,-54.2,-67.8,40,1.5,155 2012-01-28 16:05:00,1027.40,-77.0,-89.5,39,,,1022.74,-57.0,-68.2,47,1.7,160 2012-01-28 16:35:00,1027.10,-77.0,-89.5,39,,,1022.74,-54.6,-59.0,75,1.7,160 2012-01-28 16:51:00,1027.10,-77.0,-89.8,38,,,1022.74,-54.6,-59.0,75,1.7,160 2012-01-28 17:05:00,1027.20,-77.0,-89.5,39,,,1022.10,-56.0,-67.2,47,1.4,163 2012-01-28 17:20:00,1027.20,-77.0,-89.8,38,,,1022.10,-56.0,-67.2,47,1.4,163 2012-01-28 17:49:00,1027.20,-77.0,-89.8,38,,,1022.30,-54.7,-66.0,47,1.4,163 2012-01-28 18:04:00,1027.20,-77.0,-89.8,38,,,1019.33,-55.8,-67.2,47,1.7,174 2012-01-28 18:19:00,1027.10,-79.0,-91.6,38,,,1019.30,-55.8,-71.0,36,1.7,174 2012-01-28 18:34:00,1026.90,-79.0,-91.6,38,,,1019.28,-54.6,-67.9,41,1.7,174 2012-01-28 18:49:00,1026.90,,,,,,1019.30,,,,, 2012-01-28 19:04:00,1026.80,,,,,,1019.39,,,,, 2012-01-28 19:19:00,1026.80,,,,,,1019.39,,,,, 2012-01-28 19:34:00,1026.60,,,,,,1018.84,,,,, 2012-01-28 19:49:00,1026.30,,,,,,1018.84,,,,, 2012-01-28 20:04:00,1026.20,,,,,,1018.45,,,,, 2012-01-28 20:19:00,1026.20,,,,,,1018.46,,,,, 2012-01-28 20:34:00,1025.70,,,,,,1018.46,,,,, 2012-01-28 20:50:00,1025.70,,,,,,1018.46,,,,,
Note at 18:49 on 1/28/12 it stopped reporting all data except barometric pressure.
Some background on the equipment tells us the likely cause.
The station is the venerable Vantage Pro2 by Davis Instruments, arguably one of the best weather stations available to consumers. I have deployed several myself and put them online, for example here and here. They are hardy, accurate, and well constructed, being manufactured in the USA in Hayward, CA instead of some Chinese gadget mill. They also have NIST traceability on sensors.
The Integrated Sensor Suite (ISS) communicates wirelessly with the console below, and the console has an optional PC and/or standalone Internet interface (for DSL/Cable modems) attached.
This station at weather station in Jim River, AK was recording temperatures in conditions way out of its design spec, it only goes to –40 F
From: http://davisnet.com/product_documents/weather/manuals/07395-249_IM_06152.pdf
Appendix B: Specifications Complete specifications for the ISS and other products are available in the Weather Support section of our website at www.davisnet.com. Cabled ISS Temperature range: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . -40 to 150° Fahrenheit (-40 to 65° Celsius) Power input: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Console Cable from Vantage Pro2 console Optional Vantage Pro2 AC power adapter Wireless ISS Temperature range: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . -40 to 150° Fahrenheit (-40 to 65° Celsius)
While they operate on solar power during the day, these units have an internal lithium battery for operation at night and through extended cloudy periods.
I suspect the internal CR123A Lithium 3 volt battery in the outside ISS died. Note that on 2012-01-28 18:49:00 the data for barometric pressure is still reporting after temperature and other values die. At that temperature, the battery likely could not sustain enough voltage to keep the transmitter running.
The barometric pressure sensor is in the internal LCD console, inside the house/office where the unit is connected to the Internet. All other sensors are outside in the ISS.
The CR123A Lithium 3 volt battery specifications are:
3V 1400mAh Lithium Battery
Wide operating temperature range: -40°C to 85°C
So it was operating way out of spec as well.
Some people have emailed me wondering about why the readings at Jim River, AK stopped just shy of a new all time record. I don’t see any nefarious motive here, just simple equipment failure under extraordinary extreme conditions combined with Murphy’s Law.
Let’s hope the observer there has a backup thermometer, but who’d want to go outside in cold like that to read it?
h/t to Dr. Ryan Maue and Joe D’Aleo
BTW, if you want one of these splendid weather stations, you can get them here. Details here.
UPDATE: The NWS in Fairbanks moves quickly to disavow the temperature report. I suppose the Drudge link has the phones ringing off the hook. But here’s the interesting thing, the nearest other “official” station, PAPR at Prospect Creek Airport, AK only 0.9 miles away, is also offline.
Data Status
Over the last 28 days, no data was seen on the following dates: 2012-01-04 to 2012-01-16, 2012-01-18 to 2012-01-20, 2012-01-22 to 2012-01-29.
It would be interesting to see how they defend an official airport station failure.
NOAK49 PAFG 302352 PNSAFG AKZ219-222-311200- PUBLIC INFORMATION STATEMENT NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE FAIRBANKS AK 252 PM AKST MON JAN 30 2012 ...CLARIFICATION OF TEMPERATURES FROM JIM RIVER DOT CAMP... TEMPERATURES THIS PAST WEEKEND AT THE ALASKA DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION JIM RIVER MAINTENANCE CAMP AT MILE 138 DALTON HIGHWAY...STATION JMTA2...HAVE BEEN REPORTED AS LOW AS 79 BELOW. THE TEMPERATURES ARE NOT CORRECT. THE WEATHER STATION IN USE AT THE JIM RIVER DOT CAMP IS A PERSONAL WEATHER STATION THAT IS NOT RATED FOR TEMPERATURE COLDER THAN 40 BELOW. THE UNREALISTICALLY LOW TEMPERATURES ARE BELIEVED TO BE A FUNCTION OF THE BATTERY FAILING AT VERY LOW TEMPERATURES. THERE ARE NO OFFICIAL...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE STANDARD... TEMPERATURE MEASUREMENTS AT JIM RIVER DOT CAMP.$$ RT/JL JAN 12
UPDATE2 1/31/2012 9:30AM PST
According to Gladstone and NCDC MMS, PAPR (Prospect Creek, just 0.9 mile from Jim River DOT station, and holder of the low temperature record from 1971) is an AWOS station, part of the “B” COOP network.
https://mi3.ncdc.noaa.gov/mi3qry/identityGrid.cfm?setCookie=1&fid=22862
Details on AWOS:
http://www.allweatherinc.com/aviation/awos_dom.html
and as I understand it, it is not rated to –80F, the specs for the thermistor say:
Ambient Temperature Sensor.
The sensor shall be thermally isolated in a
motor aspirated radiation shield to accurately measure air temperature.
A. Range. From –40C to +60C (-40 oF t o +140 oF)
B. Accuracy. ±0.3C.
C. Resolution. 1 oF.
Source: http://www.allweatherinc.com/pdf/awos_level_iii.pdf
So, given the official equipment there at Prospect Creek, it seems NOAA has either purposely or unintentionally created an impossibility of the Prospect Creek record of ever having been broken there again.
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Alan Statham says:
January 30, 2012 at 3:53 pm
“It’s cold in Alaska in the winter, and therefore global warming isn’t happening. A most elegant proof. Well done.”
Anthony – when you get inane comments like this, it’s a sign you are being effective. And the CAGW cabal doesn’t like that. Well done and bravo!
By the way, Alan, if the warming is truly “global” and the earth has been “warming” for over a century, how can there possibly be any more cold temperature records??? (heh)
I’ve experienced -50F in Saranac Lake, NY as a child in the 50s and nearly -70F on the flight line loading nukes on B-52s in the Michigan UP. Luckily I was wearing full arctic gear and had a heater hose stuffed under the back of my snorkel parka in the second case. Very traumatic to exposed flesh in both cases – you literally flash-freeze. I have also experienced 130+F on many occasions in Thailand.
Little chance of dying from the weather in Thailand and guaranteed death in both Saranac Lake and the UP without protective clothing. Give me warming any day – please!
Fortunately for them, the caribou have the oil pipeline for a little extra warmth.
I live in a small cabin outside North Pole, Alaska and the coldest it got there over this weekend was a nice, balmy -52. Of course, Alaska is huge and I’m not in those other places, but it was apparently a heat wave, by comparison.
But regardless, this is life in Alaska…and it’s weather like this that really tends to separate the true Alaskans (those who actually love and appreciate Alaska — for being Alaska) and those who are merely Lower-48’ers (a description which is often an insult, up here), who are here by circumstance in what they consider just another American place (even though it’s really not), and who complain and shiver as soon as it hits 20 above. Here’s some advice, from us Alaskans: GO…BACK…HOME — and take your Lower 48 ways, customs, culture, music and box stores back with you.
That’s one thing I love about weather like this…it helps such a process, and thins the herd!
My heart and old Bunny Boots go to those of you in The Great Country of Canada and Alaska.
I remember once when I flew from Prudhoe where it was a warm -25 back home to Fairbanks where the temp was -60,no wind. One of the few times that I wished that I had stayed in Deadhorse.
Another cold experience was in Fort McMurray, it was a balmy -55.
brrrr
Those things dont work too well when you mount them in a Radar beam. I know we tried it at work
I live in a small cabin outside North Pole, Alaska and the coldest it got there over this weekend was a nice, balmy -52. Of course, Alaska is huge and I’m not in those other places, but it was apparently a heat wave, by comparison.
Even the scoundrels at East Anglia in UK NOW admit that temperatures have been dropping for the last 15 years and fear a mini ice age. Time to eliminate this ‘carbon’ crap destroying industry, economies and generating fraudulent taxes.
Hey MaxL. One word: CHINOOKS. Honesty is the BEST policy!
BTW: Looking at the data history, temperature drops as pressure falls. Which is not surprising. So keep your fingers crossed and hope that the pressure sensor is still producing real results and; on a hunch; you can tell when to run out and measure the minimum temperature just as pressure begins to rise.
During the cold war, the USSR and the USA seemed to have a race for the coldest temperature ever measure on Earth. ISTR lots of reports of around -70°C from the USSR; perhaps because the meteorologists didn’t actually go out into the cold and lose a finger trying to read the thermometers.
Wait till the West coast gets home. 😉
[Now it’s up over 100%. ~dbs]
Alan Statham says:
January 30, 2012 at 3:53 pm
‘…It’s cold in Alaska in the winter, and therefore global warming isn’t happening. A most elegant proof. Well done…’
And, in the same vein, if Al Gore finds melting ice in Antarctica in the summer, it’s proof CAGW is worse than we thought. Where’s the well done for that “proof”?
Silly Humansl Little do they know the tempature in Alaska(Shuliunka) was -80 in 1732, -90 in 1422,-85 in 1201 and -102 in the year 1504 bc.
Not quite as brutally cold, but lethal, none the less.
http://www.foxnews.com/world/2012/01/30/severe-cold-snap-kills-32-in-eastern-europe/?test=latestnews
I am sure they turned it off. Can’t tax people for an ice age not caused by humans.
Wouldn’t want an all time record low to get out in the media….
More on the UAH data: Based on the 600hPa level, and running the uptick in recent data on for another three days, we’re looking at a Jan 2012 anomaly of -0.095C or thereabouts.
Looks like a certain Mr Bastardi will be getting closer to winning his bet with any who chose to challenge his prediction of -0.15C anomaly by March
I thought Alaskans were going to be growing citrus trees by now. We need more warming in northern climes so we can grow FOOD to eat. History has shown that humanity thrives when the climate is warmer, but the “powers that be” do not want humanity to thrive too much. After all, wasn’t it just a few years back they were harping on over population. Now, many scientists (actual scientists and not UN sycophants) are predicting global cooling. Somehow that will be blamed on some greenhouse gas “keeping” the suns rays from penetrating for which we must all be taxed and forced back to the stone age. Either way, we lose and the Al Gore’s of the world will hit the jackpott.
Sometimes, I ponder the question, as to why GREEN-land was named such, centuries ago
Doesn’t anyone up there have a rectal themomoter? They don’t need batteries.
I feel another Nobel award coming on.
I declare Global Cooling to be a fact.
Hercules,
Q: What’s the difference between an oral & a rectal thermometer?
A: The taste…
Whats the current coldest temp recoded there ?
This just came into my inbox from Rick Thoman with NOAA:
THERE IS NO RECORD LOW AT JIM RIVER
These temperatures are from a Davis Weather Station and the voltage from the lithium battery drops dramatically with temps below -50 and the result is bogus low temperatures. Davis makes no claims on temperatures below -40 and recent firmware changes keep the units from reporting colder than about -40F. The unit at Jim River has not had that firmware change installed.
This is exactly the same problem as in Tok in January 2009.
To repeat, the reported temperatures from Jim River are WRONG.
Rick
REPLY: I made no record low claim, only that it was close. As I point out in the article, the Lithium battery is the weak link, and likely died at -79F, but I’ve also been in touch with Davis Instruments management today, and they made no mention of accuracy issues below -40F, but did agree with my assessment about the battery failure. I’ll look into this more tomorrow. – Anthony
If you go look at the sea-ice page on the side-bar, you will see a plausible explanation for both the recent dip in the sea-ice extent, and the very cold Alaskan temperatures.
The sea ice is being rapidly drifted from Novaya Zemlya straight across the Pole to Alaska and Western Canada. Strong polar winds are blowing from Russia across the pole straight into Alaska. Brrr.
But what about the Polar Bears, could they freeze to death, and the other critters that find a way to live in this enviorment.
The Ice caps are going to melt and the it means flooding on our coasts.