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That's a tough question. Probably not as prolific as 1850-1890, but just as prolific as anything since then. Feb 1936 for instance is the single greatest monthly cold anomaly anywhere in the US post-1895 when considering the anomalies it produced in MT and the Dakotas (March 1843 probably topped it though in the Midwest). Specifically, North Dakota's monthly average of -13.1F in Feb 1936 is the single coldest monthly average for any state in the lower 48, for any month since 1895. January 1937 is neck-and-neck with January 1949 for coldest month in the western US since at least the late 19th century. The cold waves of Dec 1933 and Feb 1934 can hold their own against any cold wave in the NE in the last 150 years, including events such as Dec 1917 and Feb 1943. You really have to go back to Jan 1857 & Jan 1859 (and Jan 1835 + Dec 1835 before that) before you find legitimately more impressive cold waves than that. January 1940 set numerous city & national all-time record lows in Europe that still stand today, and this includes POR's that extend back to the late 19th century. Same goes for February 1929 in Europe.

 

It would be virtually impossible to rank the magnitude of 1920s-1940s cold waves vs. the late 19th century.

 

I just looked at Bozeman in February 1936 and wow. I can't imagine going through another month like that here.

 

6 overnight lows at or below -30F, topping out at -43 on the 8th. 8 daily highs at or below zero (6 consecutive days at one point) with two days recording -16F/-37F. All while posting a -22.5 departure on the month! Just an insane month.

Cold Season 2023/24:

Total snowfall: 26"

Highest daily snowfall: 5"

Deepest snow depth: 12"

Coldest daily high: -20ºF

Coldest daily low: -42ºF

Number of subzero days: 5

Personal Weather Station on Wunderground: 

https://www.wunderground.com/personal-weather-station/dashboard?ID=KMTBOZEM152#history

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I just looked at Bozeman in February 1936 and wow. I can't imagine going through another month like that here.

 

6 overnight lows at or below -30F, topping out at -43 on the 8th. 8 daily highs at or below zero (6 consecutive days at one point) with two days recording -16F/-37F. All while posting a -22.5 departure on the month! Just an insane month.

 

Yeah, incredible month. A number of stations in MT averaged between 30-33F below the baseline normals used at that time, including Great Falls at -30.8F. Over in ND, the town of Amenia didn't rise above -10F for maximums between February 4th and 17th. 

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Almost identical patterns those months, to boot. Endless firehose hitting us with an extremely cold East. Not a setup we've seen often recently, since our firehoses tend to be +EPO and torches nationwide.

 

Yeah, 1917-18 and 1933-34 mirrored each other pretty well. 1980-81 had similar tendencies also.

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That's a tough question. Probably not as prolific as 1850-1890, but just as prolific as anything since then. Feb 1936 for instance is the single greatest monthly cold anomaly anywhere in the US post-1895 when considering the anomalies it produced in MT and the Dakotas (March 1843 probably topped it though in the Midwest). Specifically, North Dakota's monthly average of -13.1F in Feb 1936 is the single coldest monthly average for any state in the lower 48, for any month since 1895. January 1937 is neck-and-neck with January 1949 for coldest month in the western US since at least the late 19th century. The cold waves of Dec 1933 and Feb 1934 can hold their own against any cold wave in the NE in the last 150 years, including events such as Dec 1917 and Feb 1943. You really have to go back to Jan 1857 & Jan 1859 (and Jan 1835 + Dec 1835 before that) before you find legitimately more impressive cold waves than that. January 1940 set numerous city & national all-time record lows in Europe that still stand today, and this includes POR's that extend back to the late 19th century. Same goes for February 1929 in Europe.

 

 

To me the most impressive cold wave in the US was the one in February 1899.  This is the only one I know of that was nationwide (Alaska and Hawaii weren't states yet).  The February 1936 cold snap was close though.

 

During the 1899 cold snap, even some of the sea level weather stations on the Caribbean Islands recorded highs in the 40's.    It hasn't happened before or since in recorded history.

 

The February 1934 cold snap or in more modern times, the December 1989 cold snap were impressive, but only for areas east of the Rocky Mountains.   In most of the west, those months were very mild, in fact February 1934 was the warmest February in much of the West.  

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To me the most impressive cold wave in the US was the one in February 1899. This is the only one I know of that was nationwide (Alaska and Hawaii weren't states yet). The February 1936 cold snap was close though.

 

During the 1899 cold snap, even some of the sea level weather stations on the Caribbean Islands recorded highs in the 40's. It hasn't happened before or since in recorded history.

 

The February 1934 cold snap or in more modern times, the December 1989 cold snap were impressive, but only for areas east of the Rocky Mountains. In most of the west, those months were very mild, in fact February 1934 was the warmest February in much of the West.

December 1983 definitely warrants consideration as well. Everyone but the SW states had a historic airmass between December 23-25.

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To me the most impressive cold wave in the US was the one in February 1899.  This is the only one I know of that was nationwide (Alaska and Hawaii weren't states yet).  The February 1936 cold snap was close though.

 

During the 1899 cold snap, even some of the sea level weather stations on the Caribbean Islands recorded highs in the 40's.    It hasn't happened before or since in recorded history.

 

The February 1934 cold snap or in more modern times, the December 1989 cold snap were impressive, but only for areas east of the Rocky Mountains.   In most of the west, those months were very mild, in fact February 1934 was the warmest February in much of the West.  

 

I was talking about monthly anomalies in my post there.

 

I also consider Feb 1899 to be the greatest cold wave in the "official" era of US record keeping.

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December 1983 definitely warrants consideration as well. Everyone but the SW states had a historic airmass between December 23-25.

 

I would actually go with December 1983 as the most impressive cold wave in terms of geographic extent. I think Scott was alluding to the double-shot nature of February 1899, where the West got hit around the 2nd-4th while east of the Rockies got hit between the 9th-13th. If someone was to split hairs, they wouldn't call that a single event. For a single, continuous (in space and time) airmass, I'd go with Dec 1983.

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The graphs no longer display for some reason. I could see them yesterday.

Are they displaying now?

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Neck and neck in parts of the SE, but February 1899 still set more impressive records IMO. January 1985 also didn't affect areas further west (i.e. TX) as severely as Feb 1899 did...Dec 1989 actually provides stiffer competition than Jan 1985 there.

Interesting, thank you. I guess I should research these weather events more thoroughly.

 

Also, I think 1989 was the year we had a blizzard on Veterans Day (Nov 11th). Dumped something like 15" here, according to some family photos/videos. November snowstorms are very rare around these parts.

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I would actually go with December 1983 as the most impressive cold wave in terms of geographic extent. I think Scott was alluding to the double-shot nature of February 1899, where the West got hit around the 2nd-4th while east of the Rockies got hit between the 9th-13th. If someone was to split hairs, they wouldn't call that a single event. For a single, continuous (in space and time) airmass, I'd go with Dec 1983.

Agreed. It was an almost singular longwave trough encompassing the continent with the primary shot of arctic air on the 24th. Different from 1899 or January 1982 or some of the other really noteworthy national coldwaves.

 

From the records that I've seen, the main shots in January 1886 and February 1905 were fairly similar in their breadth, as was 1936.

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The West sat under a big ridge with that. You had to get well into the Plains to really feel the effects.

October 2009? I know it wasn't a winter event, but it was definitely coast to coast, and (IIRC) it was the second coldest October in US history.

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Interesting, thank you. I guess I should research these weather events more thoroughly.

 

Also, I think 1989 was the year we had a blizzard on Veterans Day (Nov 11th). Dumped something like 15" here, according to some family photos/videos. November snowstorms are very rare around these parts.

 

You can get a pretty good perspective just by looking through Threadex. You can see the interplay between 1899 and 1985 everywhere in the SE.

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October 2009? I know it wasn't a winter event, but it was definitely coast to coast, and (IIRC) it was the second coldest October in US history.

Definitely was a legitimate off season event, that one was actually pretty impressive in the Eastern parts of the PNW. Early March 1960 also warrants an off season mention, there was an almost coast to coast snowstorm with that on the 3rd.

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Definitely was a legitimate off season event, that one was actually pretty impressive in the Eastern parts of the PNW. Early March 1960 also warrants an off season mention, there was an almost coast to coast snowstorm with that on the 3rd.

 

Very impressive. I'm pretty sure the 6 at Chewelah is the early season record for WA. The 10 at Pullman was pretty ridiculous as well.

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I think Scott was alluding to the double-shot nature of February 1899, where the West got hit around the 2nd-4th while east of the Rockies got hit between the 9th-13th. If someone was to split hairs, they wouldn't call that a single event. 

 

Generalized,  it hit the Pacific Northwest February 2-4; the Rocky Mountain States February 5-7 and the Northern Plains February 8-11 before spreading south and Southeast.

 

 

If you're going to go for out-of-season events in recent years, Nov 2014 comes to mind before anything else

 

 

October 2002 as well, though it wasn't nation wide.  It was still a large portion of the country though.   Some of the October monthly records set were colder than the March monthly records.   2002 is the only year I know of where several locations in the US had their coldest day of the year in October.   Even some fairly large cities did, such as Spokane.   Boise missed the coldest day of the year by one degree.   Fair sized towns such as Lewiston also saw their coldest day in October as did several other places in Idaho, Washington, and Oregon.  

 

===========================================================

 

Of note, the winter of 1846-1847 seems to be particularly harsh nation wide (or mostly nation wide), but it isn't mentioned that much other than in the context of the Donner Party.   It was a harsh winter for most of the country as the Mississippi froze over at least to St Louis and icebergs were observed at the Mississippi Delta.   Although many events are mentioned historically for that winter, I haven't seen any reports of the temperatures.  

 

The winter was a bad one in many areas outside the US as well.

 

Does anyone know more?

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Generalized,  it hit the Pacific Northwest February 2-4; the Rocky Mountain States February 5-7 and the Northern Plains February 8-11 before spreading south and Southeast.

 

 

October 2002 as well, though it wasn't nation wide.  It was still a large portion of the country though.   Some of the October monthly records set were colder than the March monthly records.   2002 is the only year I know of where several locations in the US had their coldest day of the year in October.   Even some fairly large cities did, such as Spokane.   Boise missed the coldest day of the year by one degree.   Fair sized towns such as Lewiston also saw their coldest day in October as did several other places in Idaho, Washington, and Oregon.  

 

===========================================================

 

Of note, the winter of 1846-1847 seems to be particularly harsh nation wide (or mostly nation wide), but it isn't mentioned that much other than in the context of the Donner Party.   It was a harsh winter for most of the country as the Mississippi froze over at least to St Louis and icebergs were observed at the Mississippi Delta.   Although many events are mentioned historically for that winter, I haven't seen any reports of the temperatures.  

 

The winter was a bad one in many areas outside the US as well.

 

Does anyone know more?

 

I consider those to be separate airmasses. I would draw the dividing line between the stuff that hit the West around the 2nd - 4th, and everything that happened east of the Rockies between the 8th-13th. By that point the West was under a ridge. The thing that made Dec 1983 so special is that a historic cold wave was affecting the entire nation, coast-to-coast, at the same time. I don't think that has ever been replicated quite to that extent.

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Generalized,  it hit the Pacific Northwest February 2-4; the Rocky Mountain States February 5-7 and the Northern Plains February 8-11 before spreading south and Southeast.

 

 

October 2002 as well, though it wasn't nation wide.  It was still a large portion of the country though.   Some of the October monthly records set were colder than the March monthly records.   2002 is the only year I know of where several locations in the US had their coldest day of the year in October.   Even some fairly large cities did, such as Spokane.   Boise missed the coldest day of the year by one degree.   Fair sized towns such as Lewiston also saw their coldest day in October as did several other places in Idaho, Washington, and Oregon.  

 

===========================================================

 

Of note, the winter of 1846-1847 seems to be particularly harsh nation wide (or mostly nation wide), but it isn't mentioned that much other than in the context of the Donner Party.   It was a harsh winter for most of the country as the Mississippi froze over at least to St Louis and icebergs were observed at the Mississippi Delta.   Although many events are mentioned historically for that winter, I haven't seen any reports of the temperatures.  

 

The winter was a bad one in many areas outside the US as well.

 

Does anyone know more?

 

October 2002 doesn't fit the bill, IMO. It was a regional cold wave affecting the PNW, Rockies and Plains...like any winter cold wave to affect those regions normally would. The discussion is about those few, rare cold waves that are able to affect the Pacific and Atlantic coasts - at the same time - either simultaneously or virtually simultaneously. November 2014 actually accomplished that feat, as early season record lows were set from Redmond OR to Charlotte NC.

 

FYI, the coldest minimums of the year in October thing happens more often than you think. October 2002 definitely wasn't the only example. It also happened in 1925 in South Dakota, in October 1991 (in the same areas affected in 2002), October 1971 in the desert SW, and I'm sure some other examples. 

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Generalized,  it hit the Pacific Northwest February 2-4; the Rocky Mountain States February 5-7 and the Northern Plains February 8-11 before spreading south and Southeast.

 

 

October 2002 as well, though it wasn't nation wide.  It was still a large portion of the country though.   Some of the October monthly records set were colder than the March monthly records.   2002 is the only year I know of where several locations in the US had their coldest day of the year in October.   Even some fairly large cities did, such as Spokane.   Boise missed the coldest day of the year by one degree.   Fair sized towns such as Lewiston also saw their coldest day in October as did several other places in Idaho, Washington, and Oregon.  

 

===========================================================

 

Of note, the winter of 1846-1847 seems to be particularly harsh nation wide (or mostly nation wide), but it isn't mentioned that much other than in the context of the Donner Party.   It was a harsh winter for most of the country as the Mississippi froze over at least to St Louis and icebergs were observed at the Mississippi Delta.   Although many events are mentioned historically for that winter, I haven't seen any reports of the temperatures.  

 

The winter was a bad one in many areas outside the US as well.

 

Does anyone know more?

 

You might be interested in a post I made about the winter of 1846-47 a while back (along with the winter of 1853-54):

 

http://theweatherforums.com/index.php/topic/664-some-raws-records-for-oregon/?p=48033

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I'm trying to remember...obviously Feb 1989 was a historic, top-tier cold wave for the western U.S., but didn't it also at least briefly affect the plains and areas east of the Mississippi?

 

I know it affected the plains...but I don't think it was considered a severe cold wave on the East coast? Not to my knowledge anyway. 

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FYI, the coldest minimums of the year in October thing happens more often than you think. October 2002 definitely wasn't the only example. It also happened in 1925 in South Dakota, in October 1991 (in the same areas affected in 2002), October 1971 in the desert SW, and I'm sure some other examples.

I haven't looked into the 1925 South Dakota one, but I suspected 1991. Some locations in Colorado have their November record lows on the 1st. I was at Ft Leanard Wood in Missouri that fall and it snowed on October 31, which is unusual. About a week later it was then 3 on 11/8, which was the coldest day that year.

 

Do you know what cities had their coldest day of the year in October 1991?

 

 

As far as 1971 goes, I have looked into that one as well. That cold snap produced record lows in central and southern Utah that we're colder than the monthly records in March and November. January 1971 also had a cold snap though, so I was unable to find anywhere where the coldest day of 1971 was in October.

 

Do you know which locations?

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I haven't looked into the 1925 South Dakota one, but I suspected 1991. Some locations in Colorado have their November record lows on the 1st. I was at Ft Leanard Wood in Missouri that fall and it snowed on October 31, which is unusual. About a week later it was then 3 on 11/8, which was the coldest day that year.

 

Do you know what cities had their coldest day of the year in October 1991?

 

 

As far as 1971 goes, I have looked into that one as well. That cold snap produced record lows in central and southern Utah that we're colder than the monthly records in March and November. January 1971 also had a cold snap though, so I was unable to find anywhere where the coldest day of 1971 was in October.

 

Do you know which locations?

 

I recommend the annual climate publications for this purpose. They list the maximum and minimum temperatures for each station for the year, by state, along with the dates. You can find what you're looking for right away. The monthly/annual climate reports are a great resource. I wasn't even aware that they are accessible through the NCDC website until Chris (IbrChris) let me know last year. I wish I would have known about them years ago!

 

Anyways, here's the 1991 publication for OR:

 

https://www1.ncdc.noaa.gov/pub/orders/IPS/IPS-BE9E619D-7929-4392-9A26-5016BF77F19F.pdf

 

Pages 16-19 list the summary stats for the year. You can see annual minimums of 5 in Bend on 10/30, 6 in Condon on 10/30, etc. 

 

Regarding 1971, the big January cold snap in the SW didn't have the same effect in California, and some parts of the state escaped relatively unscathed. As a result a number of stations ended up with the coldest min's in October, due to the impressive nature of that cold wave. That was truly an unprecedented cold wave for October in CA. 

 

https://www1.ncdc.noaa.gov/pub/orders/IPS/IPS-9AA694AD-BC87-4DDD-A87C-97801D9916F5.pdf

 

You can see annual min's of 26 at Fort Bragg Aviation on 10/29, 17 at Willits on 10/29, plus a few others. 

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I recommend the annual climate publications for this purpose. They list the maximum and minimum temperatures for each station for the year, by state, along with the dates. You can find what you're looking for right away. The monthly/annual climate reports are a great resource. I wasn't even aware that they are accessible through the NCDC website until Chris (IbrChris) let me know last year. I wish I would have known about them years ago!

 

Anyways, here's the 1991 publication for OR:

 

https://www1.ncdc.noaa.gov/pub/orders/IPS/IPS-BE9E619D-7929-4392-9A26-5016BF77F19F.pdf

 

Pages 16-19 list the summary stats for the year. You can see annual minimums of 5 in Bend on 10/30, 6 in Condon on 10/30, etc. 

 

Regarding 1971, the big January cold snap in the SW didn't have the same effect in California, and some parts of the state escaped relatively unscathed. As a result a number of stations ended up with the coldest min's in October, due to the impressive nature of that cold wave. That was truly an unprecedented cold wave for October in CA. 

 

https://www1.ncdc.noaa.gov/pub/orders/IPS/IPS-9AA694AD-BC87-4DDD-A87C-97801D9916F5.pdf

 

You can see annual min's of 26 at Fort Bragg Aviation on 10/29, 17 at Willits on 10/29, plus a few others. 

 

1971 started off dry but ended w/ Pasadena receiving 7.05 in Nov/ 11.91 in Dec. [almost 20 inches in 2 months]   

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Regarding 1971, the big January cold snap in the SW didn't have the same effect in California, and some parts of the state escaped relatively unscathed. As a result a number of stations ended up with the coldest min's in October, due to the impressive nature of that cold wave. That was truly an unprecedented cold wave for October in CA.

 

https://www1.ncdc.no...7801D9916F5.pdf

 

You can see annual min's of 26 at Fort Bragg Aviation on 10/29, 17 at Willits on 10/29, plus a few others.

Thanks for the links.

 

I did know about the Ft Bragg one; I don't know why wasn't think of that one this time.

 

Fort Bragg and the surrounding area has a lot of seemingly out of place dates for the coldest and hottest day of the year. I remember that Fort Bragg has even had it's coldest day of the year in May. 1965 I believe.

 

The ocean, down slope winds, and occasional continental airmasses do some wild out of season things there. The warmest day of the year can happen year round and the coldest day can happen anywhere from October into May.

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Thanks for the links.

 

I did know about the Ft Bragg one; I don't know why wasn't think of that one this time.

 

Fort Bragg and the surrounding area has a lot of seemingly out of place dates for the coldest and hottest day of the year. I remember that Fort Bragg has even had it's coldest day of the year in May. 1965 I believe.

 

The ocean, down slope winds, and occasional continental airmasses do some wild out of season things there. The warmest day of the year can happen year round and the coldest day can happen anywhere from October into May.

 

It's like we talked about in that other thread a few months ago. The southern OR coast has similar characteristics, in places like North Bend. They've seen annual minimums in April (4/13/1968) and maximums in February (2/25/1992). Very diffuse seasonality in extremes that responds more to local topography than to large scale patterns/seasonal forcings. 

 

Having said that, October 1971 produced annual min's at a number of CA stations besides Ft. Bragg. 

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Having said that, October 1971 produced annual min's at a number of CA stations besides Ft. Bragg.

 

Yes, I believe you, which is why I asked. I just said that I already knew about the Fort Bragg one, but didn't think of it this time.

 

After you mentioned California, I assume that there were several other places too in California too. I have mostly looked at Nevada, Utah, and Northern Arizona for the October cold snap, but undoubtedly it hit California as well.

 

Some of the Utah records were really impressive. Check out the Southern Utah desert town Modena, for example (maybe I posted this somewhere else?):

 

modena.JPG

 

That's pretty impressive to have an October low that is lower than November's and March's for a location that has over a 100 year period of record.

 

Hanksville, Antimony, and Circleville were pretty impressive too:

 

hanksville.JPG

 

antimony.JPG

 

Circlevlle.JPG

 

I consider those to be separate airmasses. I would draw the dividing line between the stuff that hit the West around the 2nd - 4th, and everything that happened east of the Rockies between the 8th-13th.

 

 

For the region I live in, it was the 5-7 that had the coldest air, varying by location (with the coldest day getting a little later from west to east and north to south).

 

SLC1.JPG

 

heber.JPG

 

Vernal.JPG

 

St George.JPG

 

GJ.JPG

 

Gunnison.JPG

 

den.JPG

 

Cheyenne.JPG

 

In addition, Woodruff Utah hit -50 on 2/6/1899, which used to be the old state record before Peter Sinks. Meeker Colorado hit -37 on 2/7/1899.

 

Places a little farther east (Denver, Cheyenne, Scottsbluff, etc.) did get a double shot of cold air though,so I can see how it might be considered two air masses. You are right that it wasn't all on the same days nation wide.

 

For places like Scottbluff (Nebraska) you can see a slight warm up between the two periods of the coldest air:

 

scottsbluff.JPG

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I believe the coldest air in UT and surrounding areas on the 5th-7th was simply the initial cold airmass lingering/stagnating in the Great Basin? The same one that produced the coldest readings in the PNW around the 2nd-4th or so. The Scottsbluff numbers show the double dip pretty well. What an impressive two week period there.

 

Really impressive numbers from UT in October 1971. I wasn't aware it was that cold out there. 

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