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Past Weather Events Discussion 1800s to present


IbrChris

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You absolutely must include December 1871. That was an awesome region wide event. In the 1880s there are a ton of them. Feb 1884, Dec 1884, Jan 1886, Feb 1887 being some of the biggies. I think there were a couple of other Feb blasts early in the decade also. From what I've seen the ESRL maps are dubious from the early events. The maps from Jan /Feb 1893 didn't look nearly severe enough to me. There are also some from the 1890s that would be fun to look at. Feb 1891, which was supposedly kind of an oddball in that it was a much lower pressure environment than a typical Arctic event, November 1896, late Dec / early Jan 1898-99 (which was an awesome event in Seattle), and Feb 1899. Then of course you have multiple events in the winter of 1889-90.

 

You should probably do a separate thread for this once you get your material put together.

A lot of interpolation to be sure, esp prior to a large enough obs network which generally didn't come into existence until the 1890s for most areas. Even then the upper air data is extrapolation from surface data prior to WWII as atmospheric soundings began to shed more light on the workings of the mid and upper troposphere. However, it's what we have and while not gospel prior to the NCEP reanalysis period (1948 onward) it's nonetheless better than guesswork.

 

I'd like some data for these events if you've got it...specifically for the early events I'm trying to get monthly mean temp, lowest afternoon temp ("lo max") and lowest morning temp ("lo min"). I've been unable to find any BC data for the Jan 1888 event over on Environment Canada's website so if you have some info there that would be great.

 

For Jan 1875 likewise I have a lot of missing data for sites. This is what I have so far (in tabular form):

 

Station | Monthly Mean | Lo Max | Day | Lo Min | Day

 

Station

This format will be used for 19th century events where number of stations is relatively small and data sparse.

 

Would love to get info on those 19th century events Snow Wizard, WxStatman etc. Now that you have an idea what parameters I'm interested in. I'll also include snowfall as appropriate. I mainly need your help for pre-1890 data as the NCDC state climatology publications begin in 1890 and are fairly comprehensive with regard to the parameters I'm interested in.

 

If I can get a little data for the earlier events like Jan 1854, Dec 1855, Jan 1862, Mar 1867, Jan 1868 etc I will include those with a small narrative for each and the available data (I have the monthly means for those months already).

The Pacific Northwest: Where storms go to die.

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"The maps from Jan /Feb 1893 didn't look nearly severe enough to me."

Actually I got a classic arctic blast look @ 500 mb when I took the mean of Jan 25-Feb 7, 1893. Fairly impressive. Try pulling the 500 mb height anomaly and overriding the color table with the settings: step = 20, min = -300, max = 300. I use this color table for all my searches because it standardizes the look and colors of the maps for comparison purposes. I note a -160 m departure over WA in the 1893 event.

The Pacific Northwest: Where storms go to die.

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So I've decided to put together a Power Point (I know...roll your eyes) of the major arctic events in PNW history dating back to the 1870s. My methodology for now is to have a slide for each with a 500 mb height anomaly chart and a 300 mb mean vector wind chart from the ESRL 20th century reanalysis (1871-2012). For later events post-1948 I'll use the higher resolution NCEP reanalysis dataset. I'm also adding a listing of coldest lows at selected PNW locations from that event on the slide. Yesterday I completed the Jan 1875, Jan 1888 and Jan-Feb 1893 events (latter one was more BC and WA centric rather than the entire PNW but I included it due to it being quite severe from Olympia northward...low of -6 at Eastsound, -3 at Olga, -1 Port Angeles, 8 Neah Bay. Vancouver, BC region was around -2 in that one).

 

So, give me some ideas of others to include from 1870s to present with start and end dates. I'll share the presentation when its complete. Feel free to suggest some which affected mainly Washington as well as others that affected mainly Oregon too. My goal here is also selfish, I'd like to learn more about the overall pattern in each event. Each was unique...Jan 1875 had a vastly different pattern than Jan 1893 for instance.

 

Thanks in advance.

 

December 1871, December 1873, and December 1879 all deserve some love but I know it'll take a long time to include all of those. From the 1880s, I'd strongly encourage adding February 1883 and February 1887.

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December 1871, December 1873, and December 1879 all deserve some love but I know it'll take a long time to include all of those. From the 1880s, I'd strongly encourage adding February 1883 and February 1887.

Oh yeah...I forgot about Dec 1879. That was wickedly cold. I thought there might have been an event in Feb 1883, but there is so little data available for that year up here.

Death To Warm Anomalies!

 

Winter 2023-24 stats

 

Total Snowfall = 1.0"

Day with 1" or more snow depth = 1

Total Hail = 0.0

Total Ice = 0.2

Coldest Low = 13

Lows 32 or below = 45

Highs 32 or below = 3

Lows 20 or below = 3

Highs 40 or below = 9

 

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One of the most remarkable events in Oregon weather history occurred on Jan 2nd, 1888. From COOP registers: Ft. Klamath recorded 30" of snow in 16 hours with 2.54" liquid equivalent. High was 35, low 21. At Linkville (Klamath Falls) 16" of snow fell in 12 hours (1.10" of water) with a high of 41, low of 26. At Ashland 1.40" of rain fell on Jan 2, 1888. Impressive storm indeed!

At Ft. Klamath it's noted that the mercury fell to -39 on Jan 15, 1888 the record for that site. Previous record -34 in February 1884.

The Pacific Northwest: Where storms go to die.

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One of the most remarkable events in Oregon weather history occurred on Jan 2nd, 1888. From COOP registers: Ft. Klamath recorded 30" of snow in 16 hours with 2.54" liquid equivalent. High was 35, low 21. At Linkville (Klamath Falls) 16" of snow fell in 12 hours (1.10" of water) with a high of 41, low of 26. At Ashland 1.40" of rain fell on Jan 2, 1888. Impressive storm indeed!

 

At Ft. Klamath it's noted that the mercury fell to -39 on Jan 15, 1888 the record for that site. Previous record -34 in February 1884.

 

Where exactly was Ft. Klamath located? Was it up around the north end of Upper Klamath/Agency Lake or was it further north up toward Klamath Marsh. I have a hard time even imagining a low that cold near Klamath Lake, but Klamath Marsh a little bit higher in elevation and further north I could see it happening. 

Snowfall                                  Precip

2022-23: 95.0"                      2022-23: 17.39"

2021-22: 52.6"                    2021-22: 91.46" 

2020-21: 12.0"                    2020-21: 71.59"

2019-20: 23.5"                   2019-20: 58.54"

2018-19: 63.5"                   2018-19: 66.33"

2017-18: 30.3"                   2017-18: 59.83"

2016-17: 49.2"                   2016-17: 97.58"

2015-16: 11.75"                 2015-16: 68.67"

2014-15: 3.5"
2013-14: 11.75"                  2013-14: 62.30
2012-13: 16.75"                 2012-13: 78.45  

2011-12: 98.5"                   2011-12: 92.67"

It's always sunny at Winters Hill! 
Fighting the good fight against weather evil.

 

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14/7 at Portland on February 5, 1883. Basically it was an 1880s version of February 1989.

I need to start a thread for this...haha. Slowly adding more data to 1875 and 1888 events today. Monthly Weather Review, Jan 1888 was quite useful for filling in some data gaps. They don't list snowfall however. Snowfall is an afterthought even on the COOP sheets in Jan 1888.

The Pacific Northwest: Where storms go to die.

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Where exactly was Ft. Klamath located? Was it up around the north end of Upper Klamath/Agency Lake or was it further north up toward Klamath Marsh. I have a hard time even imagining a low that cold near Klamath Lake, but Klamath Marsh a little bit higher in elevation and further north I could see it happening. 

North end of Klamath Lake. Klamath Falls was known as Linkville at that time.

The Pacific Northwest: Where storms go to die.

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Well here is a fascinating find for me regarding SE Idaho historical weather. Idaho Falls was known originally as Eagle Rock. Temp data survives from the 1880s although patchy...however Feb 1883 the mean temp was an astonishing 5.1 F with coldest low of -36! Compare to modern era record mean 4.3 in Jan 1949 (Feb record 7.0 in 1964) and all-time coldest low of -38 on Feb 1, 1985. Not quite the coldest of all time but that -36 would be 2nd coldest on record and mean temp of 5.1 2nd coldest month on record.

This publication notes previous record low of -29 in 1882 (no month given). Fort Hall, Idaho saw -13 in 1880 for lowest temp in the area in the pre-Eagle Rock era.

Source: Monthly Weather Review, Feb 1883.

The Pacific Northwest: Where storms go to die.

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I thought surely Wx_Statman is aware of this event.

 

No I'm talking about everything you posted since I checked the thread last night. Mostly referring to your project of cataloguing every Arctic blast since the days of pioneer settlement. Sorry I didn't make that clear.

 

I think its too ambitious. It would involve too much stats even for the Statman!

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I need to start a thread for this...haha. Slowly adding more data to 1875 and 1888 events today. Monthly Weather Review, Jan 1888 was quite useful for filling in some data gaps. They don't list snowfall however. Snowfall is an afterthought even on the COOP sheets in Jan 1888.

 

Definitely. I try not go stat-overload in the main discussion thread. Stuff here gets buried real quick. After about a day it won't matter much whether you posted anything at all. Nobody will be looking.

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Well here is a fascinating find for me regarding SE Idaho historical weather. Idaho Falls was known originally as Eagle Rock. Temp data survives from the 1880s although patchy...however Feb 1883 the mean temp was an astonishing 5.1 F with coldest low of -36! Compare to modern era record mean 4.3 in Jan 1949 (Feb record 7.0 in 1964) and all-time coldest low of -38 on Feb 1, 1985. Not quite the coldest of all time but that -36 would be 2nd coldest on record and mean temp of 5.1 2nd coldest month on record.

 

This publication notes previous record low of -29 in 1882 (no month given). Fort Hall, Idaho saw -13 in 1880 for lowest temp in the area in the pre-Eagle Rock era.

 

Source: Monthly Weather Review, Feb 1883.

 

I went and dug up an old post I made on Western about the twin blasts in January and February 1883. Hope this helps:

 

In January and February 1883, two major Arctic outbreaks affected the PNW within two weeks of each other, separated by a lengthy stretch of mild temps. This was a very unique setup it appears - I can't think of any other occurence where we saw an intense Arctic outbreak like that, followed by mild weather for a week, only to get slammed by an even more intense Arctic outbreak a little over 10 days later.

 

Here's how Eola looked from January 14 - February 11, 1883:

 

1/14: 38/33

1/15: 39/32

1/16: 36/34

1/17: 26/16

1/18: 27/12

1/19: 17/5

1/20: 29/17

1/21: 45/30

1/22: 42/29

1/23: 42/32

1/24: 44/39

1/25: 46/42

1/26: 47/41

1/27: 48/44

1/28: 49/46

1/29: 46/40

1/30: 51/49

1/31: 44/34

2/01: 30/22

2/02: 24/15

2/03: 22/7

2/04: 23/7

2/05: 17/3

2/06: 28/10

2/07: 30/6

2/08: 33/18

2/09: 29/13

2/10: 38/29

2/11: 41/30

 

Downtown Portland fell to 8 degrees in the January event, and then got even colder with a 14/7 day on February 5th. Note that this is later than any high in the 10's seen in modern records.

 

What's perhaps more impressive is the wide reach of intense cold in both events - with many areas across the PNW, Rocky Mountains, and central/northern Plains receiving two of their top-5 or top-10 cold waves on record within those two weeks!

 

In the January event Spokane fell to -28, their 2nd coldest reading ever behind -30 in January 1888. Likewise Boise fell to -27, their 2nd coldest reading behind -28 in January 1888. The coldest readings at both locations since 1888 are only -25. Yuma, AZ fell to 22, an all-time record low, and San Diego fell to 32 for one of their few freezes on record. Winnemucca, NV recorded a high of -1 on January 19th - their only subzero maximum on record (January 1888, December 1972, and December 1990 all had maximums of 1 above zero to share 2nd place). Further east Colorado Springs fell to -32, an all-time record low. Fargo fell to -42, which is colder than any reading in modern records but not as cold as some other 1880's cold waves there. As far east as Des Moines temps fell to -26, which is one of their coldest readings on record and equivalent to what they saw in February 1996. Des Moines then fell to -23 in the February cold wave two weeks later.

 

In the February event, Spokane fell to -22 on the 4th - combined with their -28 reading two weeks earlier, it is the only time they have ever seen two such extreme cold waves within such a short time span. Dodge City, KS fell to -20 in both the January and February events - their only colder readings on record are -26 in February 1899, and -21 in December 1989. North Platte, NE fell to -26 in January and -29 in February, while neither month has been that cold in over 100 years in North Platte. You have to go back to 1894 to find a reading that cold in January, and to 1899 to find a reading that cold in February for that location. Omaha fell to -22 and -25 in the two events, you have to go back to 1912 to find a colder reading for either month. Cheyenne, WY fell to -31 in January and -28 in February - only 1875 was colder in January, and only 1905 and 1936 were colder in February than 1883.          

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And here is a post I made about December 1879 (way easier going back to find these than rounding up the stats again!):

 

I want to talk a little bit about the December 1879 cold wave. This is a rarely talked about but truly colossal event across the northern tier of the US. The new data for Eola has allowed me to see how cold this event was in the Willamette Valley. Previously I had my hunches, but I finally have actual numbers to show for it.

Here's Eola in the December 1879 cold wave (as usual based off 7am, 2pm and 9pm obs):

12/18: 41/30
12/19: 30/25 1.0" snow
12/20: 29/20 12.5" snow
12/21: 33/21
12/22: 26/14 0.6" snow
12/23: 18/-8
12/24: 25/5
12/25: 30/20
12/26: 38/27

A reading of -8 at 7am on the 23rd along with about a foot of snow on the ground. This is actually the coldest reading in the 1870-1892 period of record that I have for Eola (-5 in January 1888 is the next coldest). This is another one of those cases where the real low was likely -10 or lower between the observation times.

In Downtown Portland an 8" snowstorm was followed by a low of 3 degrees (also on the 23rd), and that still stands as the December record low, although it was tied in December 1919. As was usual with big cold waves in that era, both the Willamette and Columbia were frozen over in Portland. Victoria harbor also froze and there was considerable floating ice in the Puget Sound according to reports at the time. Crops were damaged in California and there was skating on frozen ponds in Modesto.

Further east, this event was enormous. Fort Keogh, Montana (Miles City) fell to -52 for their 2nd coldest reading ever, behind only the massive -65 in January 1888. In areas of eastern ND and northern MN, as well as areas of the southern Canadian prairies, this was the greatest cold wave of all time - with no modern cold wave even coming close. Winnipeg's -54 degrees is a full 6 degrees lower than the modern airport all-time record of -48. The -50 at Grand Forks is a full 7 degrees below the modern airport all-time record of -43. In northern Minnesota readings of -58 in St. Vincent and -56 at Crookston are also lower than anything seen in the "official" era. For Crookston that extends back to 1890, and the lowest since then is only -51. You can bet there were readings in the -60's in the cold spots of northern MN - keep in mind that the official state record is -60 from 1996.

December 1879 was also a legendary cold month in Western Europe, with many places recording their coldest December on record. Paris set their all-time record low of -11F on December 10, 1879 which has never been approached since.          

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Some of this old data is fascinating...here are some items of note (not PNW related).

All are for February of the respective year(s)

Huntsville, AL fell to -6 in 1832 and 1836
Montgomery, AL fell to 22 in 1875
Prescott, AZ fell to -11 in 1880
Fort Canby (AZ?) fell to -12 in 1855
Fort Smith fell to -4 in 1840
Visalia, CA fell to 17 in Feb 1883
Campo, CA fell to 16 in 1877
Fort Bidwell, CA fell to -18 in 1868
Pikes Peak, CO fell to -37 in 1875
Fort Lewis, CO fell to -30 in 1880
Colebrook, CT fell to -28 in 1861
New Haven, CT fell to -16 in 1835
Rapid City, D.T. fell to -40 in Feb 1883
Fort Buford, D.T. fell to -40 in Feb 1883
Pembina, D.T. fell to -48 in 1876
Fort Abercrombie, D.T. fell to -40 in 1861 and 1869
Fort Pembina, D.T. fell to -45 in 1875
Dover, DE -3 in 1875
Fort Delaware, DE 0 in 1866
Washington, DC -2 in 1875 and -5 prior to that (year not noted)
Ft. Barrancas, FL 11 in 1852
Augusta, GA -2 in 1835
Chicago, IL -13 in 1875
Winnebago, IL -20 in 1864
Belvidere, IL -32 in 1875
Indianapolis, IN -8 in 1875
Spiceland, IN -21 in 1866
Fort Supply, I.T. -8 in 1881
Fort Gibson, I.T. -12 in 1857
Dubuque, IA -31 in 1875
Guttenburg, IA -37 in 1868
Ft. Leavenworth, KS -26 in 1834

Louisville, KY 0 in 1875
Newport Barracks, KY -20 (year not noted, prior to 1875)
Fort Jesup, LA 7 in 1823, 1838
Baton Rouge, LA 10 in 1852

Brunswick, ME -28 in 1859
Baltimore, MD 2 in 1873
Fort McHenry, MD -6 in 1875
Deer Park, MD -10 in 1881
Boston, MA -7 in 1876
Williamstown, MA -26 in 1835
Lunenburg, MA -26 in 1855
Marquette, MI -27 in 1875
Fort Brady, MI -55 in 1875
Escanaba, MI -32 in 1875
Ontonagon, MI -37 in 1861
St. Vincent, MN -38 in Feb 1883
Breckenridge, MN -34 in 1875, 1879
Duluth, MN -34 in 1875
Fort Ripley, MN -43 in 1860
Vicksburg, MS 21 in 1875
Columbus, MS 14 in 1864
St. Louis, MO -5 in 1875
St. Louis, MO -25 in 1875
Ft. Assiniboine, MT -47 in Feb 1883
Ft. Ellis, MT -53 in 1872
North Platte, NE -29 in Feb 1883
Ft. McPherson, NE -24 in 1874
Camp Sheridan -29 in 1881
Winnemucca, NV -17 in 1882
Fort Ruby, NV -19 in 1864
Mt. Washington, NH -42 in 1876
Stratford, NH -37 in 1861

Dartmouth College, NH -33 in 1848
Atlantic City, NJ -5 in 1875
Newark, NJ -7 in 1861
Santa Fe, NM -3 in 1879, 1880
Ft. Union, NM -21 in 1881

Albany, NY -18 in 1875
Sackett's Harbor, NY -46 in 1861
Belleville, NY -34 in 1836
Wilmington, NC 15 in 1875
Ft. Johnson, NC 3 (prior to 1875)
Toledo, OH -17 in 1875
Hillsborough, OH -22 in 1838
Umatilla, OR -24 in Feb 1883
Camp Harney, OR -16 in 1868
Erie, PA -16 in 1875
Lewisburg, PA -23 in 1865, 1867
Pittsburgh, PA -12 in 1875
Philadelphia, PA -2 in 1866 (lowest in 113 years of record as of 1883)
Newport, RI -2 in 1881
Providence, RI -16 in 1866
Charleston, SC 22 in 1852 (lowest in 105 years of record as of 1883)
Ft. Moultrie, SC 6 in 1835
Knoxville, TN 6 in 1873
Glenwood Cottage, TN -4 in 1804
Ft. Elliott, TX -10 in Feb 1883
Randolph, VT -31 in 1868

Alexandria, VA 3 in 1855
Dayton, WA -24 in Feb 1883
Ft. Colville, WA -20 (prior to 1881)
Morgantown, WV -10 in 1875
La Crosse, WI -34 in 1875
Fort Howard, WI -38 in 1823
Milwaukee, WI -32 in 1875
Superior City, WI -38 in 1863
Ft. Washakie, WY -54 in Feb 1883
Cheyenne, WY -24 in 1874
Ft. Fetterman, WY -40 in 1873
Ft. Laramie, WY -35 in 1864

These are mostly all Signal Service records
 

The Pacific Northwest: Where storms go to die.

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Beginning this thread to move discussion from December 2014 current weather thread.

iFred if you would be kind enough to move some posts from that thread over here it would be much appreciated.

Purpose of this thread is general historical weather discussion.

The Pacific Northwest: Where storms go to die.

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Relocating this from WxStatman:
 

I went and dug up an old post I made on Western about the twin blasts in January and February 1883. Hope this helps:

 

In January and February 1883, two major Arctic outbreaks affected the PNW within two weeks of each other, separated by a lengthy stretch of mild temps. This was a very unique setup it appears - I can't think of any other occurence where we saw an intense Arctic outbreak like that, followed by mild weather for a week, only to get slammed by an even more intense Arctic outbreak a little over 10 days later.

Here's how Eola looked from January 14 - February 11, 1883:

1/14: 38/33
1/15: 39/32
1/16: 36/34
1/17: 26/16
1/18: 27/12
1/19: 17/5
1/20: 29/17
1/21: 45/30
1/22: 42/29
1/23: 42/32
1/24: 44/39
1/25: 46/42
1/26: 47/41
1/27: 48/44
1/28: 49/46
1/29: 46/40
1/30: 51/49
1/31: 44/34
2/01: 30/22
2/02: 24/15
2/03: 22/7
2/04: 23/7
2/05: 17/3
2/06: 28/10
2/07: 30/6
2/08: 33/18
2/09: 29/13
2/10: 38/29
2/11: 41/30

Downtown Portland fell to 8 degrees in the January event, and then got even colder with a 14/7 day on February 5th. Note that this is later than any high in the 10's seen in modern records.

What's perhaps more impressive is the wide reach of intense cold in both events - with many areas across the PNW, Rocky Mountains, and central/northern Plains receiving two of their top-5 or top-10 cold waves on record within those two weeks!

In the January event Spokane fell to -28, their 2nd coldest reading ever behind -30 in January 1888. Likewise Boise fell to -27, their 2nd coldest reading behind -28 in January 1888. The coldest readings at both locations since 1888 are only -25. Yuma, AZ fell to 22, an all-time record low, and San Diego fell to 32 for one of their few freezes on record. Winnemucca, NV recorded a high of -1 on January 19th - their only subzero maximum on record (January 1888, December 1972, and December 1990 all had maximums of 1 above zero to share 2nd place). Further east Colorado Springs fell to -32, an all-time record low. Fargo fell to -42, which is colder than any reading in modern records but not as cold as some other 1880's cold waves there. As far east as Des Moines temps fell to -26, which is one of their coldest readings on record and equivalent to what they saw in February 1996. Des Moines then fell to -23 in the February cold wave two weeks later.

In the February event, Spokane fell to -22 on the 4th - combined with their -28 reading two weeks earlier, it is the only time they have ever seen two such extreme cold waves within such a short time span. Dodge City, KS fell to -20 in both the January and February events - their only colder readings on record are -26 in February 1899, and -21 in December 1989. North Platte, NE fell to -26 in January and -29 in February, while neither month has been that cold in over 100 years in North Platte. You have to go back to 1894 to find a reading that cold in January, and to 1899 to find a reading that cold in February for that location. Omaha fell to -22 and -25 in the two events, you have to go back to 1912 to find a colder reading for either month. Cheyenne, WY fell to -31 in January and -28 in February - only 1875 was colder in January, and only 1905 and 1936 were colder in February than 1883.         

The Pacific Northwest: Where storms go to die.

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Relocating this post by WxStatman:

I want to talk a little bit about the December 1879 cold wave. This is a rarely talked about but truly colossal event across the northern tier of the US. The new data for Eola has allowed me to see how cold this event was in the Willamette Valley. Previously I had my hunches, but I finally have actual numbers to show for it.

Here's Eola in the December 1879 cold wave (as usual based off 7am, 2pm and 9pm obs):

12/18: 41/30
12/19: 30/25 1.0" snow
12/20: 29/20 12.5" snow
12/21: 33/21
12/22: 26/14 0.6" snow
12/23: 18/-8
12/24: 25/5
12/25: 30/20
12/26: 38/27

A reading of -8 at 7am on the 23rd along with about a foot of snow on the ground. This is actually the coldest reading in the 1870-1892 period of record that I have for Eola (-5 in January 1888 is the next coldest). This is another one of those cases where the real low was likely -10 or lower between the observation times.

In Downtown Portland an 8" snowstorm was followed by a low of 3 degrees (also on the 23rd), and that still stands as the December record low, although it was tied in December 1919. As was usual with big cold waves in that era, both the Willamette and Columbia were frozen over in Portland. Victoria harbor also froze and there was considerable floating ice in the Puget Sound according to reports at the time. Crops were damaged in California and there was skating on frozen ponds in Modesto.

Further east, this event was enormous. Fort Keogh, Montana (Miles City) fell to -52 for their 2nd coldest reading ever, behind only the massive -65 in January 1888. In areas of eastern ND and northern MN, as well as areas of the southern Canadian prairies, this was the greatest cold wave of all time - with no modern cold wave even coming close. Winnipeg's -54 degrees is a full 6 degrees lower than the modern airport all-time record of -48. The -50 at Grand Forks is a full 7 degrees below the modern airport all-time record of -43. In northern Minnesota readings of -58 in St. Vincent and -56 at Crookston are also lower than anything seen in the "official" era. For Crookston that extends back to 1890, and the lowest since then is only -51. You can bet there were readings in the -60's in the cold spots of northern MN - keep in mind that the official state record is -60 from 1996.

December 1879 was also a legendary cold month in Western Europe, with many places recording their coldest December on record. Paris set their all-time record low of -11F on December 10, 1879 which has never been approached since.         

The Pacific Northwest: Where storms go to die.

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Some of this old data is fascinating...here are some items of note (not PNW related).

All are for February of the respective year(s)

Huntsville, AL fell to -6 in 1832 and 1836
Montgomery, AL fell to 22 in 1875
Prescott, AZ fell to -11 in 1880
Fort Canby (AZ?) fell to -12 in 1855
Fort Smith fell to -4 in 1840
Visalia, CA fell to 17 in Feb 1883
Campo, CA fell to 16 in 1877
Fort Bidwell, CA fell to -18 in 1868
Pikes Peak, CO fell to -37 in 1875
Fort Lewis, CO fell to -30 in 1880
Colebrook, CT fell to -28 in 1861
New Haven, CT fell to -16 in 1835
Rapid City, D.T. fell to -40 in Feb 1883
Fort Buford, D.T. fell to -40 in Feb 1883
Pembina, D.T. fell to -48 in 1876
Fort Abercrombie, D.T. fell to -40 in 1861 and 1869
Fort Pembina, D.T. fell to -45 in 1875
Dover, DE -3 in 1875
Fort Delaware, DE 0 in 1866
Washington, DC -2 in 1875 and -5 prior to that (year not noted)
Ft. Barrancas, FL 11 in 1852
Augusta, GA -2 in 1835
Chicago, IL -13 in 1875
Winnebago, IL -20 in 1864
Belvidere, IL -32 in 1875
Indianapolis, IN -8 in 1875
Spiceland, IN -21 in 1866
Fort Supply, I.T. -8 in 1881
Fort Gibson, I.T. -12 in 1857
Dubuque, IA -31 in 1875
Guttenburg, IA -37 in 1868
Ft. Leavenworth, KS -26 in 1834

Louisville, KY 0 in 1875
Newport Barracks, KY -20 (year not noted, prior to 1875)
Fort Jesup, LA 7 in 1823, 1838
Baton Rouge, LA 10 in 1852

Brunswick, ME -28 in 1859
Baltimore, MD 2 in 1873
Fort McHenry, MD -6 in 1875
Deer Park, MD -10 in 1881
Boston, MA -7 in 1876
Williamstown, MA -26 in 1835
Lunenburg, MA -26 in 1855
Marquette, MI -27 in 1875
Fort Brady, MI -55 in 1875
Escanaba, MI -32 in 1875
Ontonagon, MI -37 in 1861
St. Vincent, MN -38 in Feb 1883
Breckenridge, MN -34 in 1875, 1879
Duluth, MN -34 in 1875
Fort Ripley, MN -43 in 1860
Vicksburg, MS 21 in 1875
Columbus, MS 14 in 1864
St. Louis, MO -5 in 1875
St. Louis, MO -25 in 1875
Ft. Assiniboine, MT -47 in Feb 1883
Ft. Ellis, MT -53 in 1872
North Platte, NE -29 in Feb 1883
Ft. McPherson, NE -24 in 1874
Camp Sheridan -29 in 1881
Winnemucca, NV -17 in 1882
Fort Ruby, NV -19 in 1864
Mt. Washington, NH -42 in 1876
Stratford, NH -37 in 1861

Dartmouth College, NH -33 in 1848
Atlantic City, NJ -5 in 1875
Newark, NJ -7 in 1861
Santa Fe, NM -3 in 1879, 1880
Ft. Union, NM -21 in 1881

Albany, NY -18 in 1875
Sackett's Harbor, NY -46 in 1861
Belleville, NY -34 in 1836
Wilmington, NC 15 in 1875
Ft. Johnson, NC 3 (prior to 1875)
Toledo, OH -17 in 1875
Hillsborough, OH -22 in 1838
Umatilla, OR -24 in Feb 1883
Camp Harney, OR -16 in 1868
Erie, PA -16 in 1875
Lewisburg, PA -23 in 1865, 1867
Pittsburgh, PA -12 in 1875
Philadelphia, PA -2 in 1866 (lowest in 113 years of record as of 1883)
Newport, RI -2 in 1881
Providence, RI -16 in 1866
Charleston, SC 22 in 1852 (lowest in 105 years of record as of 1883)
Ft. Moultrie, SC 6 in 1835
Knoxville, TN 6 in 1873
Glenwood Cottage, TN -4 in 1804
Ft. Elliott, TX -10 in Feb 1883
Randolph, VT -31 in 1868

Alexandria, VA 3 in 1855
Dayton, WA -24 in Feb 1883
Ft. Colville, WA -20 (prior to 1881)
Morgantown, WV -10 in 1875
La Crosse, WI -34 in 1875
Fort Howard, WI -38 in 1823
Milwaukee, WI -32 in 1875
Superior City, WI -38 in 1863
Ft. Washakie, WY -54 in Feb 1883
Cheyenne, WY -24 in 1874
Ft. Fetterman, WY -40 in 1873
Ft. Laramie, WY -35 in 1864

These are mostly all Signal Service records

The Pacific Northwest: Where storms go to die.

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I went and dug up an old post I made on Western about the twin blasts in January and February 1883. Hope this helps:

 

In January and February 1883, two major Arctic outbreaks affected the PNW within two weeks of each other, separated by a lengthy stretch of mild temps. This was a very unique setup it appears - I can't think of any other occurence where we saw an intense Arctic outbreak like that, followed by mild weather for a week, only to get slammed by an even more intense Arctic outbreak a little over 10 days later.

 

Downtown Portland fell to 8 degrees in the January event, and then got even colder with a 14/7 day on February 5th. Note that this is later than any high in the 10's seen in modern records.

 

What's perhaps more impressive is the wide reach of intense cold in both events - with many areas across the PNW, Rocky Mountains, and central/northern Plains receiving two of their top-5 or top-10 cold waves on record within those two weeks!

 

In the January event Spokane fell to -28, their 2nd coldest reading ever behind -30 in January 1888. Likewise Boise fell to -27, their 2nd coldest reading behind -28 in January 1888. The coldest readings at both locations since 1888 are only -25. Yuma, AZ fell to 22, an all-time record low, and San Diego fell to 32 for one of their few freezes on record. Winnemucca, NV recorded a high of -1 on January 19th - their only subzero maximum on record (January 1888, December 1972, and December 1990 all had maximums of 1 above zero to share 2nd place). Further east Colorado Springs fell to -32, an all-time record low. Fargo fell to -42, which is colder than any reading in modern records but not as cold as some other 1880's cold waves there. As far east as Des Moines temps fell to -26, which is one of their coldest readings on record and equivalent to what they saw in February 1996. Des Moines then fell to -23 in the February cold wave two weeks later.

 

In the February event, Spokane fell to -22 on the 4th - combined with their -28 reading two weeks earlier, it is the only time they have ever seen two such extreme cold waves within such a short time span. Dodge City, KS fell to -20 in both the January and February events - their only colder readings on record are -26 in February 1899, and -21 in December 1989. North Platte, NE fell to -26 in January and -29 in February, while neither month has been that cold in over 100 years in North Platte. You have to go back to 1894 to find a reading that cold in January, and to 1899 to find a reading that cold in February for that location. Omaha fell to -22 and -25 in the two events, you have to go back to 1912 to find a colder reading for either month. Cheyenne, WY fell to -31 in January and -28 in February - only 1875 was colder in January, and only 1905 and 1936 were colder in February than 1883.          

The 1880s was a fabulous decade to say the least. The 1860s, 1880s, and 1950s would probably rank as my 3 favorite decades.

Death To Warm Anomalies!

 

Winter 2023-24 stats

 

Total Snowfall = 1.0"

Day with 1" or more snow depth = 1

Total Hail = 0.0

Total Ice = 0.2

Coldest Low = 13

Lows 32 or below = 45

Highs 32 or below = 3

Lows 20 or below = 3

Highs 40 or below = 9

 

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Monthly Weather Review, Dec 1883 claims Olympia fell to -17 in Dec 1879 which we know is patently false. The Dec 1879 Monthly Weather Review publication gives the monthly low at Olympia as 10 on the 23rd. WxStatman do you have Olympia data for Dec 1879?

 

Edit: Looks like a typo as I see Dayton, WA reached -17 in Dec 1879.

The Pacific Northwest: Where storms go to die.

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Monthly Weather Review, Dec 1883 claims Olympia fell to -17 in Dec 1879 which we know is patently false. The Dec 1879 Monthly Weather Review publication gives the monthly low at Olympia as 10 on the 23rd. WxStatman do you have Olympia data for Dec 1879?

 

Edit: Looks like a typo as I see Dayton, WA reached -17 in Dec 1879.

 

Yes. It shows 8 degrees for a minimum. This is real max/min data instead of three daily observations, which is nice to see from a Signal Service station. I'm about to copy and paste a summary of cold waves that the Olympia Signal Service station recorded in the 1879-1890 period. I originally posted it to Western some years ago.

 

Man, I'm really glad Fred was able to save those archives!

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Wanted to share some Olympia data for the 1877-1892 period, specifically some of the more impressive cold spells.

This is the old signal service station from that era. One thing to keep in mind is that it may not have been in such a great radiational cooling spot as the modern station, since the low temperatures don't jump out all that much. A lot of these 1880's events brought similar if not even colder temps to many areas of the western valleys, including the Portland area. So Olympia doesn't stand out as a cold spot in that time period...more like a typical western lowlands location. On the other hand, the modern Olympia station is an obvious standout among other I-5 corridor stations, with readings like -8 on 1/1/1979, -7 on 1/27/1972, -7 on 12/23/1983, -1 on 11/15/1955, 9 on 3/3/1989. Probably just a minor geographical difference that kept the old 19th century station from experiencing ideal radiational cooling like the modern station does.

Also, this is true max/min data (not 3-observation data). Thank goodness for that, gives a much more accurate temperature profile.

Dec 21-25, 1879:

31/25
32/22
27/8
31/12
37/17

Oct 11-16, 1881:

50/37
51/34
50/23
42/28
51/36
45/38

Feb 17-19, 1882:

31/23
35/14
36/17

Mar 17-20, 1882:

42/34
39/30
41/26
44/30

Jan 17-21, 1883:

37/19
37/13
25/9
28/14
34/27

Feb 2-10, 1883:

29/16
25/13
28/8
30/9
34/9
35/15
39/25
39/14
37/15

Feb 7-14, 1884:

36/16
34/20
35/22
30/21
30/2
34/3
37/5
40/19

Dec 28-31, 1884:

33/26
30/8
31/13
31/9

Feb 1-12, 1887:

32/21
23/18
20/14
24/11
28/2
31/4
35/12
37/27
34/30
36/15
44/23
41/18

Jan 4-17, 1888:

33/25
29/22
24/13
28/10
32/13
34/13
34/21
42/30
42/22
22/11
21/1
20/-2
18/3
35/14

Jan 1-8, 1890:

32/26
26/24
24/23
31/5
21/7
24/20
34/22
38/21

Feb 24-28, 1890:

42/31
27/22
31/12
38/21
41/18          

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January 1888 in Downtown Portland...D**n. It never ceases to amaze me.

1/01/1888: 45/40
1/02/1888: 42/33
1/03/1888: 36/31
1/04/1888: 38/26
1/05/1888: 29/20
1/06/1888: 25/17
1/07/1888: 24/12
1/08/1888: 21/11
1/09/1888: 21/11
1/10/1888: 28/12
1/11/1888: 42/7
1/12/1888: 44/28
1/13/1888: 36/11
1/14/1888: 15/5
1/15/1888: 9/-2
1/16/1888: 10/0
1/17/1888: 22/6
1/18/1888: 28/8
1/19/1888: 33/15
1/20/1888: 30/21
1/21/1888: 33/19
1/22/1888: 35/19
1/23/1888: 49/21
1/24/1888: 45/34
1/25/1888: 62/35
1/26/1888: 56/38
1/27/1888: 53/40
1/28/1888: 56/41
1/29/1888: 57/43
1/30/1888: 54/45
1/31/1888: 57/43

Despite an absolute blowtorch the last week of the month - including the January record high of 62 that stood until 1931 - the month STILL averaged 29.2F - one of the coldest ever observed in Portland.

Through the 22nd, the monthly average stood at 22.6F!          

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I'm going to do a recap of the top events of 2009 for our region, similar to last year. For reference here is the writeup I made last January, for 2008:

Here is my take on the significant weather events for 2008 in the Pacific Northwest:

-Early January storm, with record low baro pressures and strong winds in the Columbia Basin
-Record low elevation snowfall and snowpacks, winter into spring
-Gorge snowstorm in late January, with 2+ feet in places
-Willamette Valley snowstorm in late January, with as much as 4" to 8" down the valley, including Eugene
-Late March/early April chill - late season snowfalls and the coldest last week of March (for highs) for both PDX and SEA, numerous April record lows the first two days of the month including 23 in Vancouver
-April 12 heat spike - locally produced some of the warmest readings for so early in the season west of the Cascades, into the 80's all the way up I-5 corridor
-April 18-20 cold wave - episodic late season cold wave, one of the best we have ever seen. This is easily a top-5 late season cold wave in PNW history. On April 19 Corvallis saw their latest measurable snowfall on record, beating the legendary 4/11/1911 snowfall by 8 days. They have been recording since 1889
-Mid-May heat wave - I'm tempted to call this the greatest PNW heat wave this early in the season in history. It very well may be. Readings like 108 in Cave Junction, 107 in Roseburg, 101 in Brookings, 101 in Tillamook, 99 in Salem, and 95 in Newport are unheard-of in the middle of May. Not to mention the 95/62 in Portland, setting the mark for the earliest 95 degrees and the warmest May low on the same day
-May 24 thunderstorms - PDX sets the all-time 24 hour rainfall record with 0.93"
-Early June cold - coldest first 10 days of June on record in many PNW stations. The cold spell climaxed on June 10th, bringing snow to the Baker Valley, La Grande, Pullman, and Boise. It was officially the latest measurable snowfall in Pullman's history, and the only such occurence in June. It was the latest trace for Boise, and may easily have been the latest snowfall in the Baker Valley. Even Laurel Mountain at 3,500 feet in the Coast Range recorded 1" of snow, their first June snowfall on record since observations began in 1978.
-Late June heat wave - 100 in PDX, if not for 2006 (102 degrees) this would have tied the June record high.
-Early July thunderstorm outbreak - intense thunderstorms rolled through the valley in the middle of the night, waking up the entire Portland metro area around 3:00 AM with frequent lightning, thunder, and torrential rain. This was the best nocturnal thunderstorm I have personally seen since the 1/15/1996 squall line at 4:30 AM.
-Great coastal heat wave in early July - Brookings sees by far their greatest heat wave on record, peaking at 108 degrees with a low of 85 the following morning - both all-time records by a wide margin. The heat makes up to Corvallis, which had back to back days at 99 degrees.
-July 11th clipper - highly anomalous "Arctic front" rips through the Columbia Basin, bringing 55-75 mph northerly gusts to Washington state and dropping the temperature to 33 at Pullman - their coldest "mid-summer" temperature on record.
-Late July chill - very chilly weather persists, with low temperatures in the 30's in outer Seattle and Portland areas on a couple mornings.
-August 5 heat spike - 96 degrees in PDX.
-Mid-August heat wave - one of our best late season heat waves on record, with three straight 99+ days at PDX. This was also one of the greatest heat waves for the Cascade foothills/lower Cascade elevations ever recorded, with numerous stations in the 1,000 to 3,000 foot elevation range well above 100 degrees, in some cases up to 105 degrees. PDX sees 102 degrees and then ties its August record warm low with 68 degrees.
-Mid-August coastal thunderstorm outbreak - highly anomalous thunderstorm event lashes the coast and offshore waters nearly the entire day with lightning, thunder, and numerous downpours.
-Late August/early September cold snap - one of our greatest late summer cold snaps on record. The 62/48 at PDX on August 31st was the coldest August day since 1964. Eugene set an August record low with 38, while Redmond saw their coldest August day in history - 59/29. Cold core tornadoes also touched down near Eugene and Oregon City.
-Mid September heat wave - PDX saw a record 91 degrees, and then saw three straight 89+ days.
-Late September heat wave - PDX saw a very late 89 degrees, our latest such heat since 1993.
-Mid October cold blast - one of the greatest early season cold waves in Western US history. Numerous early season records fall. Boise sees their earliest measurable snowfall in history, after seeing their latest trace in June.
-Late October heat ridge - saw some very impressive late season readings in the foothills and Cascades.
-Record mild November - this included several events. The first half of November was one of the mildest on record, and included the mildest lows to start November (first 12 days) in both Portland's and Salem's history. There was a pineapple express rainstorm and major flooding in western Washington. Just after mid-month, a heat spike brought the latest 70 on record to both Eugene and Tillamook, as well as the latest 75 on record to Redmond. Later in the month, another very warm ridge produced more warmth - including 66 in Corvallis on 11/29, one of their warmest readings for so late in the season.
-December Arctic cold and record snowfall - this is all very fresh in our minds, so no need for a lengthy recap. Greatest western lowlands snowstorm in 40 years. Back-to-back Arctic outbreaks. The first shot brought -16 to Hermiston (coldest since 1983) and 9 to Corvallis (coldest since 1990). The second shot was one of the best Seattle-area Arctic outbreaks in many years, with 14 at Sea-Tac and -6 at Arlington.


And now for 2009:

-January 1-2 storm. January-record 3.13" in 24 hours at PDX, major localized flooding including on the Clackamas River, plenty of damage around Estacada. This immediately transitioned to 1-3" of snow around Portland, creating a surreal scene of some streets half-flooded and half-snow covered on the non-flooded surfaces.
-January 4-5 snow event - another 1-3" of snow fell around Portland, 3.5" fell in Seattle, with up to 6"+ on the Kitsap Peninsula and Hood Canal.
-Mid January death ridge and east wind storm. A highly anomalous strong ridge extended up the entire Western North American coastline, producing January-record heat in both California and Alaska (and the big central/eastern US cold wave on the lee side). Incredibly warm weather was observed at higher elevations of the Cascades and Coast Range above the inversion layer, with many readings well into the 70's. Horse Creek, at 3,400' in the north-central Cascades, recorded a high of 78 followed by an overnight low of 59, followed by a high of 74 - a surreal stretch for what is normally permanent snow country in the middle of January, and a location that probably saw 100" of snow just weeks earlier in December. High east winds, gusting to 55-65 mph, raked Gresham and Troutdale bringing down many trees and power lines.
-January 27th snowfall - another 1-2" fall around Portland.
-Late February cold blast - a late 2.1" snowfall in Seattle and an official 0.3" in Portland on the 26th.
-Cold wave in 2nd week of March - late season Arctic blast brings a number of record lows for so late in the season, including 2 degrees in Spokane, and another round of snowfall for the western valleys. Clearbrook sees a 33/19 day on March 10th and Bellingham at 37/20, and Seattle sees another 2.2" of snow on March 9th with a high of 37. On the transition out more snow falls, including 0.5" in Seattle and 2" in Bremerton on March 15th.
-April heat wave - an impressive heat spike brings a tie for the earliest 83+ on record to PDX on the 20th (also 84 on 4/20/1956), and a number of April record highs in SW Oregon and California. A very impressive 98 degrees was recorded at Cave Junction, which may be the highest credible April temperature on record for Oregon (if one were to ignore the somewhat dubious 102 from Marble Creek in April 1906).
-June 4 thunderstorms - a line of severe thunderstorms pushes up the Willamette valley, spawning an extremely rare warm-core tornado warning near Salem (as well as a severe warning from the same cell), and bringing gusts of 49 mph to PDX and 55 mph to HIO. An old-timer in Salem reported this as the most intense thunderstorm that he has seen in 60 years of living in Salem, according to KGW news at the time.
-July heat wave - this has been much discussed, with numerous (50+) all time record highs in the PNW lowlands. Portland sees its hottest day ever with a mean temperature of 90.5 downtown (105/76) and 90.0 at PDX (106/74), and Seattle does the same with a mean of 87.0 at Seatac (103/71) and 88.0 at Sandpoint (105/71). This was unquestionably the greatest heat wave of all time in the Puget Sound. PDX saw a record 10 straight days with highs at 90 or above. This was part of a record hot July, which saw the greatest number of 90+ days in a month for PDX at 15, and was the 2nd warmest month on record at 73.6, behind only July 1985. This month greatly contributed to an annual record of 24 90+ days at PDX, and the hottest average summer temperature at PDX.
-August 20 heat spike - brief but impressive late season heat wave brings 97 to PDX, latest ever 107 to Roseburg, and the 2nd latest 110 on record to Monument.
-September 11 heat spike - another brief but impressive late season heat wave brings 94 to PDX (followed by September record warm minimum of 64 a few days later), 101 to Estacada (latest 100+ since 1937), and the latest 95 on record to Mazama, WA.
-September 21-23 heat wave - a very impressive late season heat wave brings the latest 105 on record to the state of Oregon, reached at Riddle on the 22nd, tying the 105 at Grants Pass on 9/22/1928. Coquille hit an all-time record high of 104, and Cave Junction, Roseburg and Monument all reached their latest-ever 104.
-2nd week of October cold wave - an extreme early cold wave shatters many record lows for this early in the season across the Columbia Basin. This included jaw-dropping readings like 2 in Kalispell, 8 in Pullman, 9 in La Crosse, 10 in Omak, and 19 in Pendleton. Redmond sees a high of 32 with 0.31" of freezing rain on October 13 - an unthinkable occurence for so early in the season. Prior to this event, in 100 years of records Redmond had not seen a high lower than 36 before October 27th! The Columbia River gorge also sees snowfall on the 13th which is likely the earliest that has ever happened.
-November 16-17th windstorm - brought south wind gusts of 51 mph at PDX, the highest from that direction since 2006.
-Early December Arctic outbreak - we all remember this one. 12 degrees at PDX and one of the very few stretches in PDX history with 4 consecutive lows at 14 degrees or lower. Multiple locations see 7 degrees, including Hillsboro and Eugene, and Redding sets an all-time record low of 16, beating the 17 degrees from both January 1937 and December 1990. For many places west of the Cascades - especially in Oregon - it was the 2nd greatest early season cold wave in modern history as far as low temperatures are concerned, behind only 1972.
-December 29th snowstorm - a surprise snowstorm dumps 2" to 6" across Portland, with many areas right around 3-4".          

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January 1854 was one of the best Arctic outbreaks since pioneer settlement. I've talked about it before on this forum and thrown around some stats about that month. This was one of the few events in history where the temp was supposedly below zero in downtown Portland. This was also known as the "Great California Freeze" until January 1913 came about and took the crown, and overall was a famous California winter that shocked the new settlers who had no idea how cold it could get there. The previous mega cold wave down there had occured in January 1847 (also an exceptionally severe cold wave here), just before the gold rush and when the territory was still officially part of Mexico, and during the Mexican American war to boot. So there weren't really any settlers there yet to have a collective memory of that event. January 1854 also completely devastated the young citrus industry there which was just getting off the ground. Supposedly credible observers reported 15 to 17 degree temperatures in Sacramento, and San Francisco had its coldest day ever at 35/25 - they've never seen a colder day since, not in the official era where the all-time records are 35/27 since the 1870's. This was one of only two occurences - along with January 1888 - that ice floes were observed floating down the Sacramento River and exiting into San Francisco Bay.          

 

BTW wanted to add - the snow depth in Portland was reported as 14" per the Oregonian. It also prompted a humorous editorial in the January 28, 1854 edition:

The Weather - It is a matter of great regret that we cannot say anything flattering of the weather in this part of Oregon the present winter. The weather has become exceedingly capricious and independent, of late; so much so that no further dependence can be placed upon it. We would advise all hereafter to look out for regular New Hampshire winters in Oregon. If the past is any criterion for the future, nothing else may be expected.
                                         

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Yeah there is literally nothing official from that era, just diary accounts and a small handful of newspaper accounts. Which makes sense considering this area was barely a US territory at the time, in fact it had just been officially relinquished by the British in 1846. So no scientific infrastructure whatsoever around these parts at the time.

However, what I do know of January 1847 paints an epic picture, along the same lines of 1854, 1862, or 1868. This was reported as a harsh winter with much suffering both in Oregon City and surrounding Willamette Valley settlements, and in Whitman Mission and surrounding areas in the Columbia Basin. Diary accounts at Whitman Mission painted an especially bleak picture, I actually visited the historic site a few years ago and read the copies of diaries on display there, which talked in part about the hard winter of 1846-47. Back on this side of the mountains, the Columbia and Willamette Rivers were reported to have frozen over for two weeks. I've also read diary accounts from two white settlers who spent that winter with the Spokane Indians around present day Spokane, I think one of them was a missionary and the other a doctor. They wrote of the immense suffering of that winter as well - it was the most severe winter that the "oldest Indian elders" could remember. Snow lay 4 to 5 feet on the level and covered fences whole. They reported temps "probably around -35" on the coldest mornings of January 18th and 19th (ironically this cold wave appears to have peaked on the same dates as 1854, 1862, and 1875!). The Spokane Indians lost so many horses during the winter that they made a spring journey south to trade for more horses with the Nez Perce, according to the white diary authors.

There are also reports from present day San Francisco - at that time home to Mexican presidios as well as US military personnel involved in the Mexican American War - of very cold weather and frozen ponds, enough to allow ice skating. So this speaks of a similar Arctic blast to 1854 or 1888, or more recently 1972 or 1990 down there. What's interesting is that there was another big late cold wave in the 2nd week of March, around March 10th - snow and ice pellets were reported in San Francisco with a high "around 40." Also a US Naval hospital ship anchored in Monterey Bay reported snow from that event on the ship decks, as well as in town in Monterey itself, as noted by a naval surgeon on board who kept a diary of the weather. This is in the 2nd week of March! Interestingly this cold wave was also recorded at Fort Snelling, MN, present day Minneapolis, which observed a "ten day cold snap" and a low of -12F on March 11th.

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You might be referring to Fort Nisqually? I've read their diary from the 1833-34 winter. It was a beast, probably an 1861-62 clone. Basically non-stop snowy weather - either snowing or snow on the ground, or both - from early January all the way to mid-March. Exactly like 1862. I believe they still had a depth of 6" in early March that had basically been there in some form for over two months, I'm a little hazy on the details because its been a couple years since I read that diary account.

Of course Fort Nisqually, like Fort Steilacoom, is near present day Tacoma - and right on the friggin Puget Sound!

What's really interesting is that same diary account reported the following winter of 1834-35 as especially mild and virtually snowless, so we had torches even back then. The winter of 1834-35 was legendary for cold in the eastern US, with absolutely epic Arctic outbreaks in New England in early January and along the entire East coast in February (the only event to truly rival and in some cases exceed February 1899 in those areas). So it stands to reason that since the east was getting all the cold that winter that the PNW - as noted at Fort Nisqually - would be basking in torchy mildness. Even back in the LIA.          

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January 1906 saw a remarkable cold wave in Alaska and the Yukon territory. This event is little known due to the sparsity of stations at the time and the 100+ years that have elapsed since, but I thought I would bring it to light a little bit.

-Fairbanks was fortunate to catch this one, having just started full-time daily observations in 1905. Here is Fairbanks during this event:

1/05/1906: -20/-42
1/06/1906: -37/-48
1/07/1906: -48/-53
1/08/1906: -44/-52
1/09/1906: -52/-55
1/10/1906: -47/-56
1/11/1906: -54/-59
1/12/1906: -48/-56
1/13/1906: -37/-57
1/14/1906: -24/-57
1/15/1906: -4/-24
1/16/1906: -1/-42
1/17/1906: -47/-52
1/18/1906: -58/-61
1/19/1906: -56/-64
1/20/1906: -57/-65
1/21/1906: -57/-61
1/22/1906: -45/-60
1/23/1906: -51/-60
1/24/1906: -44/-56
1/25/1906: -46/-60
1/26/1906: -14/-51
1/27/1906: -16/-23

The -58F maximum on the 18th is the all-time record, and the -65F minimum on the 20th is the 2nd coldest ever behind the all-time record of -66F from January 1934. This is the only stretch in Fairbanks's history to produce SIX straight lows at -60F or lower, and overall this stretch saw a ridiculous 13 out of 16 days at -56F or lower...for perspective, Fairbanks hasn't seen a single low as cold as -56F in 17 years, since February 1993.

What's more, this month averaged -36.4F at Fairbanks - nearly 5 degrees below the modern (post 1949) coldest month at Fairbanks, which was -31.7F in January 1971.

-Here's the ridiculous stretch at Tanana, the first cold wave brought -60/-71, the 2nd cold wave brought -64/-68! The month averaged an amazing -37F against a modern day coldest month of -31F in January 1971 (since 1949). The coldest high temperature in modern records is -60F.

1/05/1906: -23/-51
1/06/1906: -49/-67
1/07/1906: -55/-71
1/08/1906: -38/-68
1/09/1906: -38/-70
1/10/1906: -60/-70
1/11/1906: -52/-68
1/12/1906: -53/-57
1/13/1906: -46/-62
1/14/1906: -27/-53
1/15/1906: -7/-27
1/16/1906: -7/-35
1/17/1906: -5/-49
1/18/1906: -37/-67
1/19/1906: -55/-67
1/20/1906: -40/-60
1/21/1906: -60/-66
1/22/1906: -64/-68
1/23/1906: -34/-64
1/24/1906: -24/-48
1/25/1906: -20/-42

-Rampart, just to the NW of Fairbanks, had similar numbers - a lowest max of -60F and a lowest min of -66F.

-The following data is from Copper Center, just southeast of Glennallen/Gulkana. This is in south-central Alaska, where its not even supposed to get as cold as places further in the interior. These numbers from the cold wave's peak are truly remarkable (same time as coldest stretch in Fairbanks):

-50/-62
-50/-69
-56/-70
-50/-74
-56/-72

Words can't describe how anomalous that is. Copper Center existed as a modern station from 1961-1982, and never fell below -60F. Glennallen has been an official station since 1965, and has never fallen below -61F. Gulkana has never fallen below -58F since its digital period of record started in 1949 - although they hit -65F in both December 1917 and February 1947, in the pre-digitized era for Alaska. Unfortunately Gulkana only goes back to March 1907, so they just missed the 1906 event by 14 months! In either case, -60F seems to be about the limit for extreme winter cold waves in south-central interior Alaska over the last 50-60 years...now compare that to the -70's they reached in January 1906!

-At Tanacross, back to back highs of -64F:

-40/-65
-60/-69
-64/-69
-64/-65
-55/-65
-60/-65
-40/-63

-In the southern Panhandle, a station called Fortmann Hatchery existed and recorded -12F on the 21st. This is just north of Ketchikan by about 20 miles, at present-day community of Loring. Ketchikan has never fallen below -1F and even further to the north Wrangell has never fallen below -10F, with both periods of record back to 1949.

-Sitka hit -2F on the 20th, their all-time record post-1949 is 0F.

-Skagway recorded an incredible cold wave with this one as well. Since 1950, in the digitized era, they have never seen anything below -14/-20. In January 1906, they had 4 straight days that looked like this:

-15/-21
-17/-20
-15/-21
-17/-21

However, in the pre-1950 era Skagway has been even colder, with -19/-22 in December 1917 and -18/-24 in February 1947. But no other event brought 4 straight days that were as cold as January 1906...so this cold wave remains unrivaled in that regard.

-Downtown Juneau fell to -10F, a very cold reading (they have not seen -10F since December 1995), but nothing extraordinary for them in the big picture. The all-time record low here is -22F. They did however see an incredible 12 consecutive days with lows below zero from the 14th to the 25th.

-Kenai bottomed out at -42F on the 20th and 21st, close to the all-time record of -47F.

-In the Yukon, two stations recorded this event - Whitehorse and Dawson City. At Whitehorse this cold wave was phenomenal, bottoming out at -69F on the 21st. This is a full 7 degrees below their modern all-time record low (since 1942) of -62F, itself set during the major cold wave of 1947. Whitehorse isn't even a cold spot being all the way down near the BC border...like Copper Center in southern Alaska, its just not supposed to get that cold that far south. Dawson City also bottomed out at -69F according to a press report that I've seen, although the official data shows -67F. It was noted at the time as the coldest weather ever known in Dawson City, but of course that only goes back to the Klondike days of the 1890's when the area was settled. Dawson City hit -73F in February 1947 for their all-time record.

-Finally in the Northwest Territories, Hay River also picked up this event. The -62F recorded there on the 23rd is below their modern day all-time record low of -60F.

******************************************************************

IN SUMMARY, the January 1906 cold wave brought:

Fairbanks: -58/-65
Tanana: -64/-71
Rampart: -60/-66
Copper Center: -56/-74
Tanacross: -64/-69
Whitehorse: -69
Dawson City: -69 (or -67)
Hay River: -62
Kenai: -42
Skagway: -17/-21
Fortmann Hatchery (near Ketchikan): -12
Juneau: -10
Sitka: -2          

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That was such a great month...but it seems like we never talk about it. We ooh and aah over December 1919, December 1924, January 1930, January 1937, etc etc...and even February 1923 from that same winter, but it seems like poor old December 1922 always slips throught the cracks.

What a beast though, basically two straight weeks of very cold weather and lots of snow...

-Downtown Bellingham fell to -4 on December 12, 1922 for the coldest-ever temperature at any of the official Bellingham stations...and there was 10" of snow on the ground.
-Blaine fell to 0.
-Kent fell to 2, which is of course right near present-day Sea-Tac.
-Astoria got buried by a ridiculous 12.5" of snow in one day on December 11, 1922, their snowiest day of all time.
-Olympia endured 14 consecuitive days with 5" or more of snow on the ground, from December 4-17, peaking at a depth of 12".
-Clearbrook had 10 consecutive days with highs 25 or lower from December 8-17...and got 12" of snow in two days at one point.

The fact that we got slammed two months later in Mid-February 1923 makes it even more amazing...since that event was probably the greatest combination of intense late season cold (highs around 20 and lows around 10) and heavy snowfall (10" to 20") ever seen in the Puget Sound, at least in the official era.

What a winter!          

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All one has to do is look at the lows east of the Cascades in that era...you get a pretty good feel for the intensity of the Arctic airmasses that routinely invaded the PNW in that era.

Dec 1915: -41 at Austin
Jan 1917: -30 at Austin
Dec 1919: -45 at Crane Prairie, -41 at Austin, -39 at Fremont, -37 at Hermiston
Jan 1922: -37 at Riverside, -37 at Paradise Valley
Mar 1922: -30 at Fremont
Dec 1922: -32 at Deer Park
Jan 1924: -31 at Winthrop, -29 at Deer Park
Dec 1924: -62 at Meacham (unofficial), -53 at Riverside, -53 at Drewsey, -45 at Harney Branch ES, -40 at Madras
Jan 1927: -55 at Seneca (unofficial), -46 at Ukiah
Dec 1927: -33 at Chewelah
Jan 1929: -30 at Chewelah, -29 at Metaline Falls
Feb 1929: -38 at Ukiah, -31 at Madras
Jan 1930: -52 at Danner, -45 at Harney Branch ES, -44 at Riverside, -42 at Ukiah, -40 at Madras
Nov 1931: -30 at Seneca
Dec 1931: -38 at Seneca
Feb 1932: -29 at Austin
Dec 1932: -36 at Lake, -34 at Danner, -34 at Seneca
Feb 1933: -54 at Seneca, -54 at Ukiah, -52 at Meacham, -47 at Austin, -46 at Danner, -40 at Deer Park
Jan 1935: -35 at Newport, -35 at Chewelah
Nov 1935: -27 at Lake, -26 at Fremont (in early November)
Jan 1936: -32 at Seneca
Feb 1936: -34 at Republic, -32 at Newport
Jan 1937: -52 at Austin, -44 at Danner, -42 at Harney Branch ES, -42 at Ukiah, -42 at Deer Park

And those are just the readings that I either know off the top of my head, or that I can quickly double check. I'm sure there were colder readings in some of those events, plus there were other events that fell into the -20's that I didn't even mention.

Now compare that to the modern era. Since 1990, the only events in the last 20 years to produce the -30's east of the Cascades are Jan/Feb 1996, Jan 2004, and....that's it! Seneca's -35 from 1996 is the coldest temperature in OR or WA since 1990, amazingly enough. January 2004 squeezed out a -32 at one station in northeastern WA (for the life of me I don't remember which one) and -31 at Meacham. December 2009 *may* have done it, but that data is not available yet for most stations...I do know that Fort Rock hit -28.          

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I don't know, and unfortunately I don't think anyone does. I read about that -62 a long time ago, probably 10 years ago...I have no clue where. It might have been an old newspaper article on microfilm, or it might have been somewhere online. I don't remember. I do remember that it was an account from old timers about cold waves of that era. The crazy thing about it is that its totally believable. The old Meacham station was in a frost hollow a little below the pass, and not in the same location that today's Meacham station is. It absolutely maximized radiational cooling, as evidenced by official readings like -52 in February 1933 and -23 on April 1, 1936 - which is far and away the coldest temperature on record for April in the PNW. So we know for a fact there are spots around Meacham that can get REALLY cold...a properly placed thermo could have achieved that -62 number in December 1924 when you consider that both Riverside and Drewsey fell to official readings of -53...Drewsey isn't even a real cold spot and it got THAT cold.          

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Seneca hit -48 in both December 1983 and February 1989. The recent years are no station-positioning trick, they just haven't gotten cold. You can verify that by observing the airmasses over the last decade-plus...not big enough for major cold. So I don't see any discrepancies there. And where's December 1983 on your list, anyway?

As far as Tier 1 cold waves, my list going backward would be:

Dec 1990
Feb 1989
Dec 1983
Dec 1978/Jan 1979
Dec 1972
Dec 1968
Dec 1964
Jan 1962
Jan 1957
Jan/Feb 1950
Jan 1949
Jan 1943
Jan 1937
Feb 1933
Jan 1930
Jan 1927
Dec 1924
Dec 1919
Jan 1909
Feb 1899
Jan/Feb 1893
Jan 1888

Feb 1887
Dec 1884/Jan 1885
Feb 1884
Feb 1883
Jan 1883
Dec 1879
Jan 1875

Data before 1875 is too sparse for a complete list (that is until I obtain fort data, which I'm working on), but we all know of some gems in that era.          

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I can't believe how anomalous the snowfall in January 1969 was along the Oregon Coast, the southern Willamette Valley, and portions of interior SW Oregon. I've known a lot of these numbers for a while since they're all easily accessible, but they never cease to amaze me. So I've worked myself up enough to make a post with some of the best numbers from that historic month.

If any of you are not sure where some of these places are, I encourage you to look them up on Google to get a sense of how incredible these snowfall totals are. These are places that receive very little snowfall in an average winter, and some of them don't usually see any snow at all.

January 1969

McKenzie Bridge
98.9" monthly total - they haven't seen more than 52.5" in one month since.
January average is 11.5"

Silver Creek Falls
95.4" monthly total - they haven't seen more than 36.7" in one month since.
January average is 6.7"

Illahe
74.5" monthly total - they haven't seen more than 21.0" in one month since.
January average is 5.1"

Alsea Fish Hatchery
55.7" monthly total - they haven't seen more than 22.5" in one month since.
January average is 1.7"
39.2" fell between January 25-30
Snow depth reached 30"

Williams
50.5" monthly total - they haven't seen more than 22.0" in one month since.
January average is 4.4"
28.5" fell in two days

Eugene
47.1" monthly total - they haven't seen more than 18.9" in one month since.
January average is 3.3"
37.9" fell in three days from January 25-27
Snow depth reached 34"

Cottage Grove
46.8" monthly total - they haven't seen more than 13.8" in one month since.
January average is 2.9"

Roseburg
44.2" monthly total - they haven't seen more than 11.1" in one month since.
January average is 1.4"
34.0" fell in three days from January 25-27
Snow depth reached 27"

Canary (just a few miles inland from the coast and at low elevation)
43.0" monthly total - in the period of record from 1932-1970 their next snowiest month was 15.7"
January average in that era was 2.7"
36.1" fell between January 25-30

Elkton
39.0" monthly total - they haven't seen more than 9.5" in one month since.
January average is 2.1"
31.0" fell in three days from January 25-27
Snow depth reached 33"

Reedsport (on the central coast!)
32.0" monthly total - in the period of record from 1937-1983 their next snowiest month was just 5.0"!
January average in that era was 1.2"
30.0" fell between January 25-30
Snow depth reached 19"

Astoria
26.3" monthly total - most all-time in any month
January average is 2.0"
Snow depth reached 18" - the most ever

North Bend
19.2" monthly total - most all-time in any month
January average is 0.8"

Bandon (on the southern coast!)
18.0" monthly total - next snowiest winter in 100+ years of records is only 6.5"!
January average is 0.5"

Cape Blanco
5.0" fell in late January - the only measurable snowfall ever recorded there with observations between 1952-1979.          

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In another installment in what seems to be an ongoing series of 1920's nostalgia posts (having already seen topics on December 1922, December 1924, and Jan/Feb 1929 in the last couple months by myself or Jim), I'm going to talk a little bit about the incredible storm system which affected the PNW between roughly November 18-21, 1921. A loaded pineapple express clashed with a very impressive early season Arctic airmass bleeding out of the Columbia Basin to produce -

-Epic early season snowfall in the Gorge along with mammoth precipitation totals (and highs in the 20's)
-Tremendous rains west of the Cascades in Oregon/SW Washington
-Major early snowstorm in western Washington north of the Portland/Vancouver area
-Record breaking early season cold in parts of eastern WA and northern ID along with major precip and snowfall totals in the lower Columbia Basin as well

At some locations these numbers are truly exceptional, like at The Dalles - this is by far their greatest storm on record for both precipitation total (8.90") and snowfall (54"), both totals over 3 days - with nothing else even coming close in their history.

Here are some highlights of that storm from several locations in the PNW. Once again, the general time frame is November 18-21, 1921:

Northern/Central Willamette Valley:

Vancouver
5.18" of precip in 2 days
3.60" of precip in 1 day, with a 41/30 temp spread

Oregon City
7.21" of precip in 3 days
6.10" of precip in 2 days (3.00" and 3.10")

Estacada
8.56" of precip in 3 days
7.00" of precip in 2 days (2.50" and 4.50")

McMinnville
6.60" of precip in 3 days
5.80" of precip in 2 days (2.50" and 3.30")

Mount Angel
9.00" of precip in 3 days
5.10" of precip in 1 day

Salem
6.25" of precip in 4 days
4.58" of precip in 2 days (2.30" and 2.28")

Albany
6.65" of precip in 2 days (3.90" and 2.75")

Western Washington:

Centralia
8.5" of snow in 2 days, followed by 2.11" of rain in 1 day

Olympia
17" of snow in 3 days (7", 6", 4")

Bremerton
7.2" of snow in 1 day, followed by 1.60" of rain in 1 day

Buckley
14.7" of snow in 2 days (9.5" in 1 day)

Landsburg
14" of snow in 2 days (10" in 1 day)

Kent
9.2" of snow in 3 days

Columbia Gorge:

Cascade Locks
9.81" of precip in 7 days
7.58" of precip in 4 days
27.5" of snow in 3 days (24" in 2 days)
Temp spreads of 25/20 and 26/20 on back to back days

Hood River
8.64" of precip in 3 days (4.05" in 1 day)
37.5" of snow in 3 days (21.5" in 1 day)
3 straight highs of 30, 30, and 29

The Dalles
8.90" of precip in 3 days (4.20" in 1 day)
54" of snow in 3 days (24", 16", 14")

Columbia Basin:

Dufur
5.28" of precip in 1 day
28" of snow in 2 days

Goldendale
42" of snow in 3 days (36" in 2 days)
High of 16 at peak of event

Wapato (near Yakima)
25.5" of snow in 3 days

-Widespread 12" to 24" snowfall totals in many other lower Columbia Basin locations over 2-3 days.

-Sandpoint, ID recorded their November record low of -10 on the 19th.
-Colville recorded their earliest -10 on record on the 19th.

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Monthly Weather Review, Dec 1883 claims Olympia fell to -17 in Dec 1879 which we know is patently false. The Dec 1879 Monthly Weather Review publication gives the monthly low at Olympia as 10 on the 23rd. WxStatman do you have Olympia data for Dec 1879?

 

Edit: Looks like a typo as I see Dayton, WA reached -17 in Dec 1879.

I have a low of 8 listed for December 1879. That was probably Olympia, but it could have been Port Blakely on Bainbridge Island as I copied some of the monthly reports from the Seattle PI and that is where they got their observations from. I have microfilm of Olympia back to 1877. I think it's time to take a better look at those. I have always been more interested in the Central Puget Sound, but there is little data from there in the 1869 to 1883 period.

Death To Warm Anomalies!

 

Winter 2023-24 stats

 

Total Snowfall = 1.0"

Day with 1" or more snow depth = 1

Total Hail = 0.0

Total Ice = 0.2

Coldest Low = 13

Lows 32 or below = 45

Highs 32 or below = 3

Lows 20 or below = 3

Highs 40 or below = 9

 

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Yeah there is literally nothing official from that era, just diary accounts and a small handful of newspaper accounts. Which makes sense considering this area was barely a US territory at the time, in fact it had just been officially relinquished by the British in 1846. So no scientific infrastructure whatsoever around these parts at the time.

 

However, what I do know of January 1847 paints an epic picture, along the same lines of 1854, 1862, or 1868. This was reported as a harsh winter with much suffering both in Oregon City and surrounding Willamette Valley settlements, and in Whitman Mission and surrounding areas in the Columbia Basin. Diary accounts at Whitman Mission painted an especially bleak picture, I actually visited the historic site a few years ago and read the copies of diaries on display there, which talked in part about the hard winter of 1846-47. Back on this side of the mountains, the Columbia and Willamette Rivers were reported to have frozen over for two weeks. I've also read diary accounts from two white settlers who spent that winter with the Spokane Indians around present day Spokane, I think one of them was a missionary and the other a doctor. They wrote of the immense suffering of that winter as well - it was the most severe winter that the "oldest Indian elders" could remember. Snow lay 4 to 5 feet on the level and covered fences whole. They reported temps "probably around -35" on the coldest mornings of January 18th and 19th (ironically this cold wave appears to have peaked on the same dates as 1854, 1862, and 1875!). The Spokane Indians lost so many horses during the winter that they made a spring journey south to trade for more horses with the Nez Perce, according to the white diary authors.

 

There are also reports from present day San Francisco - at that time home to Mexican presidios as well as US military personnel involved in the Mexican American War - of very cold weather and frozen ponds, enough to allow ice skating. So this speaks of a similar Arctic blast to 1854 or 1888, or more recently 1972 or 1990 down there. What's interesting is that there was another big late cold wave in the 2nd week of March, around March 10th - snow and ice pellets were reported in San Francisco with a high "around 40." Also a US Naval hospital ship anchored in Monterey Bay reported snow from that event on the ship decks, as well as in town in Monterey itself, as noted by a naval surgeon on board who kept a diary of the weather. This is in the 2nd week of March! Interestingly this cold wave was also recorded at Fort Snelling, MN, present day Minneapolis, which observed a "ten day cold snap" and a low of -12F on March 11th.

I read that ice got to 4" thick in Jan 1888 at San Francisco.

The Pacific Northwest: Where storms go to die.

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