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Utah Monthly State Temperature Records Narrative


Scott

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82 on 1/31/1934 is on the books @ Fremont. 

 

Its a bogus reading as far as I'm concerned. I couldn't find any reasonable corroboration for it when I researched it. 

 

It is definitely not legitimate.   The real record high for that day (1/31) is 58 in 1971.

 

In July 2007 the warmest location was La Verkin with 113 on 7/5. St George saw 112 on 7/6/2007.

 

 

Zion National Park was also 112 on 7/4/2007.   I was there that day!

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Judging by readings of 18 at Randolph and 21 at Woodruff on 7/3/1902 I'm betting it's one of those extremely rare cases where Peter Sinks could have seen a low near zero...or even a couple degrees below...in July! Unfortunately we'll never know. There's no reliable correlation between temps at Logan or Randolph and temps in the sinks as the sinks rely on a localized cold pool effect requiring calm winds in the overnight hours to allow decoupling.

 

Aug 25, 1910 was another likely candidate for sub-zero reading at Peter Sinks...Chesterfield, ID about 70 miles NNW saw a low of 11.

 

More recently, possibly 1992 as well?  Unfortunately, it seems that no one bothered to take a reading at Peter Sinks during that cold snap.   This is the same cold snap that produced impressive snowfalls in Montana and Wyoming.   Even Cedar City, not that far from St George received measurable snowfall!    Randolf hit 17 and Sage hit 15 on 8/26/1992.   Peter Sinks was able to a record a 6 on 8/31/2005, and since 1992 was colder in the region than 2005, it is possible that temperatures at Peters Sink may have approached or even reached 0.   There really haven't been any real July or August cold snaps in the region since then.  

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It is definitely not legitimate.   The real record high for that day (1/31) is 58 in 1971.

 

Zion National Park was also 112 on 7/4/2007.   I was there that day!

 

Its hard to say what is and what isn't a real record these days, since so many records are missing from the WRCC database due to the QC'ing disaster in the NCEI database, which is where both the Utah Climate Center and the WRCC pull their numbers from. Lots of records are missing right now, both warm and cold. Specifically for Fremont, yeah there's no way they reached 82 on 1/31/1934, so its probably a good thing that record got QC'd out (it still appears in the monthly record table for Fremont, since those tables haven't been updated since 2012). But many legitimate records have been QC'd out as well, which creates a real problem when trying to determine what the "real" records are at any given station on any given date.

 

This brings me to another point - right now is not a very good time to be researching past weather extremes. With so much missing data we don't know what records we're not including. Its also much more difficult to cross-check readings right now for that very reason. A particular record might appear bogus because there are no corroborating readings in the WRCC database, but what if there actually had been several corroborating readings at other stations, but they happened to get QC'd out (due to their extreme nature) and are thus no longer visible? 

 

Its a real mess right now.

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Its hard to say what is and what isn't a real record these days, since so many records are missing from the WRCC database due to the QC'ing disaster in the NCEI database, which is where both the Utah Climate Center and the WRCC pull their numbers from. Lots of records are missing right now, both warm and cold. Specifically for Fremont, yeah there's no way they reached 82 on 1/31/1934, so its probably a good thing that record got QC'd out (it still appears in the monthly record table for Fremont, since those tables haven't been updated since 2012). But many legitimate records have been QC'd out as well, which creates a real problem when trying to determine what the "real" records are at any given station on any given date.

 

This brings me to another point - right now is not a very good time to be researching past weather extremes. With so much missing data we don't know what records we're not including. Its also much more difficult to cross-check readings right now for that very reason. A particular record might appear bogus because there are no corroborating readings in the WRCC database, but what if there actually had been several corroborating readings at other stations, but they happened to get QC'd out (due to their extreme nature) and are thus no longer visible? 

 

Its a real mess right now.

I suggest checking the printed monthly reports for each month over at NCDC...those don't change. They're PDFs of photocopies.

 

I agree with you though...it's much harder nowadays to vet the data.

The Pacific Northwest: Where storms go to die.

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I updated the original post with the SNOTEL corrections and additional Peter Sinks values.  I also separated the Peter Sinks and SNOTEL sites from the readings at official weather stations.

 

Of note, I also found a lower record for May at an official station.   Comparing it to the other nearby stations during that time period, it appears legitimate, though the date reported may be one day off.   

 

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

PS Chris, Chris Burt posted the following chart in a thread:

 

http://wunderground.com/hurricane/chrisburt/sinktemps.jpg

 

I noticed that you posted a similar chart.   Do you know anything about the supposed -52 value recorded in November 1998?   It seems dubious to me since November 1998 was a very mild month in the region.  It is also the only Peter (or Middle) Sinks value that I can't find a date for.  

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I suggest checking the printed monthly reports for each month over at NCDC...those don't change. They're PDFs of photocopies.

 

I agree with you though...it's much harder nowadays to vet the data.

 

Yeah, the monthly reports are a tremendous resource. 

 

I wonder why the NCDC restricted the Daily Summary Observations search feature? As recently as two years ago you could search daily data across whatever spatial grid of your choice, for any given calendar date back to 1900. Made for cross-checking individual events very easy. Now that feature is only available back to 2006. 

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Yeah, the monthly reports are a tremendous resource. 

 

I wonder why the NCDC restricted the Daily Summary Observations search feature? As recently as two years ago you could search daily data across whatever spatial grid of your choice, for any given calendar date back to 1900. Made for cross-checking individual events very easy. Now that feature is only available back to 2006. 

Sounds like some data-scrubbing going on behind the scenes...and they wonder why catastrophic AGW is laughed off by anyone who knows anything about the science (besides those who have an agenda).

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The Pacific Northwest: Where storms go to die.

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  • 6 months later...

I believe I found a lower July record for Utah (excluding the Sinks of course).   Blacks Fork was 16 on 7/3/1921.   This seems to be a credible reading because other stations in the region during the cold snap also reported very low readings.  

 

I also added several honorable mention reading from Blacks Fork to several other months.   Minus Peters Sink and other nearby sinks, and the SNOTELS in the High Uintas Wilderness area, Blacks Fork seems to be one of the coldest places in Utah that ever had a weather station.  Unfortunately, the weather station only lasted 4/1/1916 to 9/30/1921.

 

I also added the two -50's recorded at Peter Sinks this last January.

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I believe I found a lower July record for Utah (excluding the Sinks of course).   Blacks Fork was 16 on 7/3/1921.   This seems to be a credible reading because other stations in the region during the cold snap also reported very low readings.  

 

I also added several honorable mention reading from Blacks Fork to several other months.   Minus Peters Sink and other nearby sinks, and the SNOTELS in the High Uintas Wilderness area, Blacks Fork seems to be one of the coldest places in Utah that ever had a weather station.  Unfortunately, the weather station only lasted 4/1/1916 to 9/30/1921.

 

I also added the two -50's recorded at Peter Sinks this last January.

 

That's a good find. I noticed you added the -18 in Blacks Fork on 4/4/1918. I can't vouch for the siting of the Blacks Fork station, but that was definitely an impressive cold snap for April. There was measurable snow in places along the I-5 corridor and widespread lows in the 20's, i.e. 23 in Centralia and 25 in Albany on the 3rd. 

 

Speaking of early January 2017, that was a very impressive cold snap in the Intermountain west region during the first week of the month. IIRC Baker City had its coldest weather since December 1990 with a max of 1 and a low of -24. Laramie 2NW, WY, hit -41 on the 5th which was second only to -43 on 1/1/1979 (POR 1966-). You might know about the Hohnholz Ranch reading in CO on the 6th, when they hit -48. The POR only goes back to 12/1/1985 at this station (missing the big cold wave earlier that year), but this broke the all-time record by 6 degrees, previously -42 on 2/2/2011. In Utah, Randolph hit -39, which was within 4 degrees of the all-time record (-43 on 2/1/1985). 

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You might know about the Hohnholz Ranch reading in CO on the 6th, when they hit -48.

 

 

Yes.  Closer to where I live, the official station at Walden also hit -48 on the 6th.  I had -43 at my house.

 

The thing about the cold snap though, is that it was very short lived.   January 2017 actually ended up being warmer than normal.  Two days after I had the -43, it was 85 degrees warmer.

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Yes.  Closer to where I live, the official station at Walden also hit -48 on the 6th.  I had -43 at my house.

 

The thing about the cold snap though, is that it was very short lived.   January 2017 actually ended up being warmer than normal.  Two days after I had the -43, it was 85 degrees warmer.

 

Wow. The cold anomalies persisted here. PDX hit 17 during this cold snap, but the following week was even colder. We had the snowstorm on the 10th-11th, followed by a low of 11 at PDX. Coldest reading in any month since December 1998. 

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  • 1 year later...

-Honorable mention:

  • 109 at Lytle Ranch on 5/16/1997
  • 108 at St George on 5/31/1910
  • 108 at St George on 5/28/2003
  • 108 at Lytle Ranch on 5/26/2003
  • 107 at St George on 5/30/1910
  • 106 at La Verkin on 5/28/2003
  • 106 at Zion National Park on 5/28/2003
  • 106 at Lytle Ranch on 5/28/2003
  • 106 at Lytle Ranch on 5/30/2002
  • 106 at Lytle Ranch on 5/31/2002

 

  • I also noticed that Moab had a 109 on 5/31/1910.   I believe it is valid.  Fillmore and Richfield both had a 103 and Moab is usually much warmer than those two locations.  
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  • 3 months later...
Vernon, south of Tooele also supposedly recorded a 76 on 12/6/1965, but this reading seems very dubious.  Tooele only reached 45 that day.

 

 

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.  

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