Scott

Here's another question just for fun. Which locations have glaciers in places that seldom have snow fall? I can think of a few. They are outside the US though. Some are obvious, while some are surprising. The reasons are different for different locations.

The answer was South Carolina for anyone interested.

I saw those and some other ones in the region as well. More recently 1/1984 and 2/1979 produced lower readings than -17 very near the Delaware border. In Delaware, it hit -15 at Middletown on both of those cold snaps, which isn't that far from the state record. Millsboro does seen like a strange place to have the record low for the state. Given its location, it seems that colder places should exist. I'm guessing that had more weather stations been around in 2/1899 or 2/1934 for example, than parts of Delaware almost certainly would have recorded temperatures colder than -17. PS, what do you think of the -22 reading at Newark University Farm, Delaware on 2/3/1895? There was a cold snap then, but in most other places the coldest day was on 2/6.

So who won the contest?

Perhaps this question is too easy, but which US state has it's all time record high in both June and September?

I could see it on the highest peaks on some days, but 7/2/1918 seems a stretch given the records for that day. 1816 is a good candidate for snow in July. It snows here until mid-June at times, but never in July. Late May and early June is more common.

It still seems a stretch for the 1918 date, but remotely possible. Anyway, the official record snow for the state of Pennsylvania in June is only a trace (and zero in July and August), but I believe June 1816 did see accumulated snowfall in parts of the state. http://climate.met.psu.edu/data/state/staterecords.php Of course there isn't a weather station on the highest peaks.

Probably, but the one on 7/2/1918 seems a bit of a stretch. The highest point in Bradford County is 2450 feet and even in 1918 there were many weather stations in the area ranging in elevation of up to 1760 feet, only about 700 feet below the highest elevation in the county. The coldest weather station on that day (Ridgeway) had a high of 73 and a low of 46. Most stations had lows in the 50's or lower 60's. 700 feet doesn't seem enough elevation to produce temperatures cold enough to produce snow, but it can snow at such temperatures on rare occasions. Perhaps possible, but at least a bit of a stretch. There weren't enough stations around in 1859 to make a judgement.

I'll take Indiana off the list. I just don't see how it could happen, but it's interesting how many meteorologist accept the report. Perhaps they didn't look at the temperature reports that day. I also wonder about the Pennsylvania reports as well. The temperatures for the 1918 event seem too high. I don't see and reports of temperatures below the 50's. Could hail have been reported as snow?

For the early 2000 one, I'd guess 6/22/2003. Temps in Snowshoe were 46/42 that day with precipitation. It could potentially snow with an increase in altitude.

From Chris Burt's book: A bizarre snowfall occurred on July 2, 1927, in Wabash County, Indiana. A severe thunderstorm produced hail up to 2" in diameter, but in a small area some 8" of real snow accumulated within the larger hail streak. The report was investigated by the state director of the Weather Bureau and found to be correct. Most likely, an intense downdraft of cold air from within the thunderstorm momentarily brought the snowflakes to the surface. Unless this was some elaborate hoax or was a false report, this has got to be the most freak snowstorm ever to hit the US and perhaps the world. Recorded temperatures in the area ranged from highs of 85-90 and lows 65-70 on 7/2/1927. The area where the snow supposedly fell and the temperatures there must have been incredibly localized. Yes, 8/8/1882 (the report was from the steamer Meominee). I have doubts that it was snow though. Unless the snow was caused by something similar to the snow in Indiana, my guess is that it was either hail (most likely) or the report is false. Hail can turn to slush (the report from 8/8/1882 reported "slush" rather than snow). The coldest low temperature in Wisconsin and Michigan I can find on 8/8/1882 was 55 degrees at Marquette. It can snow when temperatures are in the 50's, but not 4". The latest snow reported in Minnesota is on 6/4, 5/30 in Wisconsin, and 6/2 in Michigan. Snow has however been on the ground in Michigan and Wisconsin later than these dates, but it was leftover from winter and spring. The earliest snow in Minnesota was 8/31 (but it didn't stick); 9/7 for Wisconsin (2nd earliest 9/21), and 9/13 for Michigan (though if the 9/7 report for Wisconsin is correct, it probably snowed in Michigan too as the location was very close to the border). Some weather charts for Bergland Michigan has report "snow" in July and August, but it was hail. The only other thing I can think of is that it was something similar to what happened in Indiana; though it's hard to fathom this happening twice. If it happened once though, I guess that it is possible. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- As mentioned earlier, some news sources reported "snow" in Yonkers New York in 9/2009, but this was also hail: https://nypost.com/2009/07/08/freak-summer-storm-dumps-snow-on-yonkers/ That's interesting. If it can snow in Pennsylvania in July, it could snow in New York and Vermont as well. It is strange that I can't find any reports for snow in Vermont and New York for the time period, even in the Adirondacks. I'm guessing that it has probably snowed in the Adirondacks every month of the year, at least at one time or another. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Was it in the mountains above town? The latest official snow at Snowshoe itself is on 5/21/2002 (a trace was reported on 6/7/1977), but sometimes if snow doesn't stick, it might not be in the record books. Do you remember when it was? It would be interesting to note it. 1992 had a frost as late as 6/23; the latest frost there (though records only go back 44 years). There was some precip the next day.

It seems a bit high. The reading has been QC'd out of NOAA's database. Cumberland did hit 83 in 2/2018 and 82 in 2/2017. If it were valid, it would be within 2 degrees of the incredible March heatwave of 1907. The Westernport reading not far from Cumberland is interesting though. I guess that there's a chance.

To the best of my knowledge: Alaska Arizona California Colorado Hawaii Idaho Maine Montana Nevada New Hampshire New Mexico Oregon South Dakota Washington Wyoming All these have snowed for sure in July. Yonkers (New York) had a reported snow in July by some media sources, but it was hail. I don't know of any confirmed reports of July snow in New York, but snow might be possible on the highest mountains in July. It has snowed on Mount Mansfield Vermont in August, so it may have snowed there in July at one time or another, but there doesn't seem to be any records of it. Snow has only been recorded there four times in June, so July snow is unlikely, but perhaps possible. Are there any missing from the list?

Although it is an old record, it seems that Delaware's record could be potentially broken during an extreme cold snap. There are places not far from the border that have recorded colder temperatures than -17. Also of note, I don't think the 110 supposedly recorded in Millsboro on 7/21/1930 is valid. It was by far the highest supposed reading in the state that day and none of the other states in the vicinity had a reading that high.

Does anyone know where to find information on the Nowata station from 2011? 2/2011 did have an impressive cold spell, but at the official station at Nowata, the lowest reading I can find is -13 (1/19/1943 and 12/22/1989). The Nowata -31 reading isn't anywhere in the HPCC, NOAA, xmACIS, NOW, or WRCC databases. Other than in news articles, it seems to be a "phantom reading". Who took the measurement and where in or around Nowata was it taken? Ralston Oklahoma did record a -29, so it is certainly possible that -31 was reached at Nowata, but there doesn't seem to be any information on the weather station that has the -31 reading.

For the sake of argument, let's say in the past 150 years since there aren't as many weather records before then. If you can find earlier records, say from the 1700's or 1800's we can count those too.

I may have to rethink this one. There was definitely a strange temperature inversion going on. Places higher than the temperature inversion reported some really high temperatures. Silver Lake Brighton at 8740 feet elevation recorded a 64 degrees the next day. This is warmer than the March and November records. I also dismissed this reading, not noticing earlier that it coincided with the Vernon reading. Still impressive, but not quite on the same scale, Deer Creek Dam (Wasatch Mountains) recorded a 63. Parowan a 62. If Brighton (elevation 8740 feet) really did hit 64, Vernon (5490) could have hit 76. Both readings are off the chart for either location, but seem to collaborate each other. It would be a heck of an inversion as well and Salt Lake and Tooele were much cooler.

Good trivia question: Which states have snowed in July in historic times? I can think of 17 and maybe an 18th.

109 on 7/11/1936 and 8/6/1918. These are the official all time state records for Maryland. I don't know if those readings were overexposed (the 88 in February almost certainly was), but in more recent years Cumberland has hit 105 on 8/20/2005, 8/2/2006, and 7/22/2011. 1918 and 1936 were definite heatwaves, so if Cumberland did hit 105 several times in recent years, the readings might be valid? They could have been a few degrees overexposed as well. I haven't compared the readings to others in the area yet, but it would be interesting.

I also agree that it doesn't look valid. There was also a reported 80 in January of that year. It also looks questionable. Frostburg, another town that is cold by Maryland standards did hit 80 in 2/32, so it was warm then, but 88 does seem high. Cumberland also has the supposed state record highs for July and August. I'm not sure what to think about those. Cumberland can have some pretty hot summer temperatures sometimes.

This morning (8/29) was the first frost at my house, though I wasn't home to see it. Last frost was 7/1.

Check out the weather data for 9/1993: Daily 9/12/1993: Daily 9/13/1993: The 50 degree high on 9/13 was recorded at midnight. It was a straight drop from 92 on the afternoon of 9/12 to 50 by midnight and 33 by morning on 9/13 with heavy snow. 5.4 inches fell by late morning. Here's an article about how it affected the baseball game: https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/sports/1993/09/14/astros-rockies-get-iced-by-denver-snowstorm/79379df5-c4df-4802-bedf-aa55f6722731/?noredirect=on&utm_term=.0a300ca05ae5 The next day it was 66 and the day after that 79, so the snow didn't last long.

Sometimes in less than 24 hours. Here is one of the most impressive events: On 9/12/1993 Denver was 92 degrees. The next morning 5.4 inches of snow fell.

That's a good one too.

What would you say that the most impressive temperature records for each month are in the United States? These are the most impressive readings considering the location, rather than the highest or lowest readings. Here are ones I can think of: January High: 98 at Zapata Texas on 1/5/1997. I just went with this one, but there are a lot of other runners up. Low: -27 at New Market Alabama on 1/30/1966. February High: 85 at Eureka California on 2/17/1930. This was the warmest reading recorded at Eureka between 12/1/1886 and 9/20/1983. It is still the 4th warmest reading in ~132 years. Runner up would probably be 100 at San Antonio Texas on 2/21/1996. Low: -30 at Salt Lake City on 2/9/1933. There are a lot of contenders here, but this one really stands out and there haven't been any close readings outside 1933. March High: (tie) 101 at Grant Nebraska on 3/21/1910 and 90 at Edmore North Dakota on 3/22/1910. Low: -50 at Snake River Wyoming 3/17/1906. It was the second coldest reading ever recorded here. April High: 100 at Fargo North Dakota on 4/18/1980. Low: -34 a Bergland Michigan on 3/31/1923 or 4/1/1923 or -30 at Humboldt Michigan on 4/1/1923 (depending on when the Bergland reading was recorded). May High: 112 at Maple Plain Minnesota on 5/31/1934. Low: 1 at Landmark Idaho on 5/23/1944. Impressive because of the lateness in the month. June High: I'd go with the 128 at Lake Havasu on 6/29/1994, but I'm skeptical of the reading. I might go with Richardson Alaska on 6/16/1969. Low: 31 at Cleveland on 6/11/1972. This was the coldest reading anytime between 5/16 and 10/3. July High: 121 at Steele North Dakota on 7/6/1936. Low: 17 at Tropic Utah on 7/2/1902. This one seems legitimate, but incredible. Nearby Loa hit 19. Tropic's 7/2/1902 reading was the coldest temperature recorded anytime between 5/22 and 9/26. Loa's reading was the coldest temperature recorded anytime between 5/26 and 9/10. Tropic Utah has only seen three other July frost in 125 years and the 17 is way out of the ordinary. August High: 120 at Ozark Arkansas on 8/10/1936 Low: 5 at Bowen and Hegben Dam Montana on 5/24/1910. At Hegben this is within one degree of the September record and 3 degrees colder than the May record. September High: 126 at Mecca California on 9/1/1950. The desert southwest usually has high readings usually more common early season, but the September 1950 heatwave was in a league of its own. Low: (tie) 1 at Rock Springs Wyoming on 9/18/1965 and 1 at at Gordon Nebraska on 9/25/1926.Rock Springs reading is 4 degrees colder than the record low in October and 2 degrees colder than the record low in April. October: High: 97 at Fargo North Dakota and Moorehead Minnesota on 10/11/2015. Low: -12 at Modena Utah on 10/30/1972. This is 5 degrees colder than the November record and 7 degrees colder than the March reading. This was the coldest reading anytime between 2/28 to 12/10. November: High: 101 at LAX on 11/1/1966. This is 4 degrees hotter than the July record and 3 degrees warmer than the August record. Low: There are lots of contenders here, but I went with 1 at El Paso Texas on 11/29/1976. Only three January temperatures were colder and none in February or December. The -38 at Eagles Nest might be a good runner up as were several locations out west in 1955 and 1985.-53 at Lincoln 14NE, MT on 11/16/1959 is another contender for runner up. December: High: 58 on 12/5/1934 at Fairbanks Alaska. In the lower 48 1939 has some runners up, but none really compare to the 58 reading at Fairbanks. Low: It's a tough choice, but I went with -48 at Mamaba Washington on 12/30/1968. Record lows in January are -42 and the record low in February is -40. Any disagreements with the above? What are some other contenders?