Scott

I "accidentally" found a cold air sink last night/this morning; this time in a sink east of Twin Lakes in the Flat Tops Wilderness of Colorado. I set up the tent in the sink it case it got windy since there was only sparse tree cover around and the only other group at the lake took the campsite with tree shelter.   The elevation of the campsite was ~11,030 feet.

I took a recording min/max themometer.   When I went to bed, it was 23F.  By midnight it had dropped to 14F and the overnight low was 6F.   That's pretty cold considering the temperature wasn't recorded during a cold snap and that it is early September.  I wonder what the winter temperatures would be there?

On 8/10/2018 at 10:31 AM, Scott said:

As far as cities go, I believe the 107 in Salt Lake City and the 106 in Grand Junction (Colorado) are likely to be broken sometime in the near future.  

OK, it's time to revist this thread again!

On 12/6/2020 at 4:46 PM, bainbridgekid said:

That surprises me. The NWS there always gives a specific forecast for the Benches in snow setups and they usually get a lot more than the valley.

Interesting fog would be more important to avoid than deep snow.

The benches get more snow, but are also  warmer at night and much sunnier.

On the coldest nights, it can be up to 15 degrees warmer on the benches.  Plus the benches had more firewood available.

In the Salt Lake Valley it is said that the Native Americans would migrate to the benches in the winter in order to avoid the fog on the valley floor.

Fields Oregon appears to be significantly drier than Rome though.

An almanac I have from the 1990s says that the driest weather station in Washington is Priest Lake Dam and lists the driest station in Oregon as Rome.

DEN finished November with a -2.1 anomaly.

Interestingly, most of the West Slope had a warm November with +2 to +3 anomalies.

After an exciting October, November weather in Colorado has been incredibly boring.  

Nothing but blue skies and sunshine in Western Colorado.   

Apparently, the COOP at Daniel Fish Hatchery in Wyoming hit -34. This would be the new official state record for WY for October. Any thoughts on this reading, Chris or Scott? It seems probable. This station averages a minimum of -4 in January so it is a very cold location. 

It does seem a bit cold for the location (nearby Big Piney is usually colder and hit "only" -26), but it could be possible.    If it is valid, the reading is incredible and is almost as cold as January's record.  

One of the more impressive records was Kodachrome Basin Utah at -7. This beats the old October record by 17 degrees. It is also 8 degrees colder than the November record. November has never dropped to zero or below at the weather station.

The breeze picked up at night so the temperature didn't drop below -12 at the official station.   It was still the October record though.  

Apparently the low yesterday was -46.1.

-23 at Randolph, UT (coldest ever at an inhabited place in Utah)

 

Of note, the November record low for Randolph is -21.

Phone screenshot driving home from work at 9:15 PM.

At the official weather station, the temperature is currently -11 so this morning's record is already history.

The high of 19 for DEN was a new record cold max for October.

Colorado Springs' high of 13 was also a record cold max.  I assume there was probably more too.  

Check out State Summary for Alaska today.    The coldest place in Alaska today was 13.   The warmest was 52.  That also means that the high temperature here in Craig was colder than the lowest temperature in Alaska.  

Here's Colorado:

Here's the list of coldest official station October minimums for Wyoming as it appears right now:

 

-33 at Soda Butte (10/29/1917)

-29 at Saratoga (10/30/2019)

-27 at Old Faithful (10/30/2019)

-26 at South Pass City (10/31/1935)

Big Piney was also -26 this morning.  

The official high in Craig was only 11.  I believe the previous lowest high temperature was 18.

It's already -8 (8:20 PM), so unless the wind picks up or something the impressive monthly record that was set this morning is going to be broken.  

We're a full 16 degrees colder than the same time last night.   If the temperature continues to drop, we could make it into the -20s.

I think a lot of places hit their all time October record.

Here are the ones I know of, but I'm sure there are a lot more:

Rawlins Wyoming = -20

Lander = -10

Buffalo Wyoming = -3

Greybull = 6

Walden Colorado = -13

Craig Colorado = -9 

Grand Junction Colorado = 7

Randolph Utah = -23

Deer Creek Dam Utah = 3

Pineview Dam Utah = 2

Logan Radio Utah = 4
Hans Flat Utah = 6

Zion National Park Utah = 13

Salt Lake City Utah = 14

Capitol Reef National Park Utah = 15

Bullfrog Utah = 23

Island Park Idaho = -19

The record low in the sinks for November is only -47, so this was pretty close to the November record.  

-17 at a CWOP station in Hebron...coldest I've seen so far this morning in Colorado. Definitely could have been a -20 reading somewhere. 

Just got to work on a project north of Craig.    It is currently sitting at -11 just after 10 AM.    I assume it was colder at sunrise.

I'm wondering if a new monthly record was set in Wyoming as well.

Possibly Colorado as well? Craig got down to at least -9 and Walden to at least -13, so there might be a -20 out there somewhere. I wonder what Maybell was? Can't find the current temp online.

It's noteworthy that Rawlins, WY fell to -16 this morning, likely the coldest ASOS temp in October in years.

Rawlins is currently -20 and dropping.