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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the global warming droids will tell you the record cold is because of global warming… with a straight face….
Remember everyone.. the “science is settled” and anyone who says anything to the contrary is some kind of evil denier
so don’t forget….. Pluto is a planet in our solar system….errrr..ummmm , well it was for over 100 yrs of “settled” science.
I lived in the area of North Pole for 17 years. Being tough enough to make it during the winter is a big deal….when you’re young. Thankfully I got over it and now live in Arizona. LOL
Sounds like “globrrrrwarming” to me!
Who designs this stuff ? Semiconductor diodes can track Temperature down to very low Temperatures, and quite linear with absolute Temperature, compared to a lot of other methods. Band-gap Voltage references, also can be made stable down to such Temperatures. At least 40 years ago,semiconductor circuits were being built that had data sheet specs from -55 deg C to +125 deg C for military or space applications. That’s -67 F, and far from the limit. Semi devices often fail Temperature wise simply from catastrophic mechanical failure, such as plastic encapsulated devices pulling wire bonds off ith Temperature cycling. Well you wouldn’t use that sort of packaging for mil spec stuff anyway, it would be hermetic.
I know that in 1966/7 we were dunking plastic encapsulated (epoxy) GaAsP red LEDs into liquid nitrogen to show people how bright they got at those Temperatures, and we did it live at trade shows, and I don’tever recall one of them failing, although for the life of me, I don’t know why, because they were pretty simple gold ball bonded devices; not at all high tech.
All the analog circuit stuff, I ever did, was designed to be accurate over the entire possible range of supply Voltage, and on battery stuff, it would read correctly down to battery Voltages, that were so low, you had just enough juice to put your head down between your knees and kiss your A*** goodbye.
Ell cheapo carbon zinc batteries that used to be used for flashlights; and torches too, could still put out power down to half of the new cell Voltage, from 1.50 Volts, down to 0.75 Volts. Modern LED flashlights have switching regulator circuits, that keep the light fully bright, way past the knee visibility point, so you think they never are going to die.
Don’t know much about Lithium rechargeables; there seems to be so many chemistries. I know you generally can’t buy, or air ship rechargeable Lithium CELLS, such as AAs. You can only buy rechargeable Lithium BATTERIES of multiple cells, that are required to contain a fail safe current limiting fuse (definitely NOT a fuze) .
I have a hard time believing that some thermometric gizmo, could be off by a factor of two and be left still functioning; it should have a low Voltage cutout that shuts the thing down before it reads rong.
Makes me wonder, though, about the difficulty of marketing electric and hybrid-electric autos in certain areas. Do places that have generally low temperatures with occasional -40 days get exemptions for the CAFE standards? Tough environment for equipment of any sort at such low temps.
Thanks for the post and the comments though – being warm and inside as I am.
Here in New Hampshire, which over the years have had lower lows than Anchorage AK, I back up my weather station (which uses lithium AA batteries) with a Type “T” digital thermocouple thermometer which I calibrate using liquid nitrogen, the ice point for water, and boiling water. It is linear. I have a difficult time thinking a weather station doesn’t have very sound and scientific back-up.
IN the 1920’s, scientists were touting warming of the globe. In the 70’s, we had the coming of the next ice age. In 90’s and present we get global climate change. If it rains, snows, sleet, hails….. Global climate change due to man. If it doesn’t rain, snow, sleet, hail… Global climate change….. All of life on our planet works in cycles. The planets orbit as a cycle… The eats crust is in constant movement, changing the landscape forever and we get ‘manmade global climate change’. We learned from the first landing on the moon that the distance between the earth and moon has been in a constant movement away from each other. The poles have been known to change polarity and move….. YET, we are to believe that man is causing greater strength and frequent Hurricanes, cyclones, tornados, droughts, floods, plagues, famines, etc.,….. We have recorded hi-tech readings for less than 150yrs of a billion yr old planet and a constantly changing and evolving planet, YET, man in less than 200 hundred years has plagued the planet? Never mind the hundreds of billions of dollars in grants and funds. Never mind the trillions of dollars in confiscated dollars to be given to friends and family of the officials who get to allocate. Never mind all of the power the officials gain from the suitors and rent-seekers who seek the money. It’s a sham… A scheme… A ploy…..
TimO; I to survived the Blizzard of 78, -60F. was wind chill guesswork, it was cold; but, not that cold. Personally couldn’t go outside to check temp as the snow was deeper then my doors, didn’t want to either.
I wish I was on vacation in Alaska right now experiencing it all.
If its a thermistor, Davis may be able to give you an estimated error range at that temperature. Given the effort to keep it cheap, I would bet its not an RTD.
However, NOAA should not be using such devices for cold weather conditions. Private stations – sure, that’s OK. But an official US station should be properly spanned. If it costs more, pay for it. By using stations that “bottom out” they are artificially raising the lower bound of temperatures (vs the old intrepid volunteer who used to use a mercury thermometer.
This is just like the NOAA. Half assed. Of course, NASA and DOD do it right…
http://extenv.jpl.nasa.gov/presentations/Low_Temperature_Lithium_Batteries.pdf
Anthony, you might suggest that they contact SAFT Batteries for special low temp operations. And span the damn thermistors correctly, or have a dual span if necessary.
Ed H says:
January 30, 2012 at 6:46 pm
Brimfrost 1989, 6th Light Infantry Division from Fort Freeze-at-Night (Wainwright) we had readings on ATC and other aviation gear of -83, -85 in the field where we camped outside… The dark red hoodies we had made up for participants had -83 lettered on the front. Good times.
==========================================================
Ed, perhaps you missed it, though I can’t imagine anyone could. But, those “good times”, were marred by a tragic accident. Though, I can attest the temps were well below what “official” temp records stated. The deaths and the surreal effect the temps caused are just a few of the things that endures in the fields of my memory.
@commieBob says:
January 30, 2012 at 4:46 pm
Our local weather guy says we are basking in balmy Southern Ontario because the jet stream is at its northern limit and is keeping the arctic air from coming south. Is that why it is so cold up north?
As good a hypothesis as any. My wife tells me that it is unusually cold in Japan this year. It seems like tongues of cold break out of the arctic rather than a broad band of the jet stream, hence the “localized” cold in Alaska. It’s been unusual here in eastern Canada (southern NB), with temperatures down to -18°C at night and a couple of days later up to +6°C and better in the daytime. Up and down like a toilet seat, as my cousin said recently. (I usually refer to a whoxx’s drawers for the same comparison.)
IanM
Is it possible that this digital thermometer encountered the equivalent of #DIV/0! at -80 deg F?
If it is only rated to -40 deg F, anything outside the range is suspect. But it is interesting that the NWS takes time to say -79 deg, “is not correct”, but doesn’t bother to stick its neck out and say what it probably is. Hey, we are scientists here… we can accept error bars.
By their logic, 111 deg F in Las Vegas, NV is not correct, because it really was 111.5 deg F.
That dang Al Gore was right again. How the heck…………..??????????
I’ve been to Alaska once, in August, when the weather was as beautiful as this Californian could wish. I cannot imagine what it is like now, as even in my grad school days in Ohio it never got in the negative numbers. My blood is very thin and my hat’s off to you Alaskans who thrive there.
Brrrr!
@ur momisugly Ian L. McQueen,
I grew up in Fredericton and remember school being cancelled one day at lunch time as the temperatures were just too cold. It was either ’69 or ’71. As I was just a little girl, I don’t recall the exact temperature that led to this decision, but I do recall the tears freezing to my face as I trudged a mile (uphill, of course) to my home – tears from the pain of the cold and not being adequately bundled. Any idea what the policy is on freezing temperatures and school cancellations?
Of course, in those days the temperatures were in Fahrenheit, which adds to my inability to remember the precise circumstances. I’m glad some Alaskans apparently like this weather, but anything below -15 C is not really my cup of tea.
In the for-what-it’s-worth category, I’ve been up in that area trapping and seen mercury thermometer temps in the -60’s F back in the mid-1980’s. That God-forsaken place Jim River is way down in a hole and the cold just runs like a river down into it. Last week I was on the Yukon River and it was only in the -40’s, but the wind was howling something fierce; doesn’t count for low recordable temp records, I know, but just as brutal on the body. Hawaii anyone?
phlogiston says:
January 29, 2012 at 12:12 pm
Snowy owls are making a rare mass migration south from the Arctic and showing up all across the USA:
http://news.yahoo.com/snowy-owls-soar-south-arctic-rare-mass-migration-175336821.html
Global warming must be making the heat intolerable up there (NOT)
Need surfacestations type survey of the arctic.
I was stationed at Ft. Wainwright in Fairbanks in 1974 until 1976…
I was fighting the cold war way back then…
I apologize to everyone…
I lost, it is still cold up there…
North American coldest temperature record at Snag airport in Yukon, Canada, on February 3, 1947. On that day, the temperature dropped to 81 degrees below zero Fahrenheit.
http://www2.gi.alaska.edu/ScienceForum/ASF16/1630.html
A great discussion, for the most part. I’d like to hear from “Ed” at Jim River.
Brendan says:
January 30, 2012 at 8:42 pm
It’s not a NOAA station. It’s a DOT (Dept. of Transportation) station.
There’s a reason it’s referred to as climate change instead of global warming these days. As some areas heat up, climate patterns change and other areas cool. For example, the lower the salinity in the Atlantic (as the ice caps melt), the more slower the movement of warm water from the Gulf of Mexico to the UK gets, and eventually it could stop, plunging the UK into an ice age.
Great blog. People here in Fairbanks tell it was -74* a few times in the early 70’s; some of them have never lived anywhere else. This is over 120 miles south of Jim River.In 2004 my thermometer near Gold Stream read -61*. Is -79* implausiblle?