Historic Jan '19 Cold Wave - Polar Vortex Intrusion

[Madtown]

-18.6

[gimmesnow]

How the heck do you stay warm in this?  Even inside? 

 

 

I have the house sealed up very tight. I basically just go around and look for drafts coming in and close them up with Great Stuff, insulation, etc. I've been fighting it for years and my heating bill just gets lower and lower, it's awesome. You just have to prepare properly. Plastic over the old windows, blankets and stuff around drafty doors, etc. I'm actually pretty toasty in here, I'm impressed with this old house.

[Andie]

Amazing in that deep cold.

 

Sadly, Jack Nicholson was caught dashing between terminals to catch a plane.

He didn't prepare sufficiently.

 

 

[Niko]

-13F

[Madtown]

-20

[james1976]

I didnt notice any cracks or noises last night....but tonight i have heard a few. its creepy. every once in a while ill hear something 'pop' outside the house. last one sounded like it was on the roof. lol

[OmahaSnowFan]

Omaha broke it’s record min high for today with a high of zero at the airport. My backyard made it to 3 above.

[james1976]

Im at -22 already

[Madtown]

just hit -21

[East Dubzz]

Gah... we got down to -22, but the DVN mentioned that a residual pressure gradient may prevent the lows from dropping to the forecast low. Good for less cold temps... but if it’s already this cold, may as well just have gotten to the record! Still have still the morning to get to -32, but not sure it’s going to happen anymore.

 

Oh a serious note, however, I am very much looking forward to some warmer temps. I wish it didn’t have to get as warm as it’s going to get, but man even 10 degrees and no wind would feel like a D**n heat wave right now lol

[james1976]

Just heard another boomy sound on my roof. is this normal lol?

[Minny_Weather]

Got up to a brutally hot 2°F here today. Can't complain as it gave us enough moisture for some nice powdery mood flakes. 20s tomorrow then the blowtorch of a weekend starts up. -1.8°F.

[Niko]

-15F

[Tom]

In Back-to-Back days, we broke daily record lows but did not achieve reaching the all-time record low tonight.  Temps have already begun to "warm" up.  This has been one of the more memorable cold waves I've experienced and with such a nice, deep snow pack.

[Stormy]

Those booming and popping noises are just the buildings contracting from the cold and could also come from bare heaving cement or soil pushing on various parts of a building. Our house has made those popping noises as long as I can remember & it happens nearly every winter, anytime it goes below 0° or so. We have an approximately 12" snow pack and the ground here isn't frozen very deep and I doubt that's causing my house to bang and snap. Don't think it's very good for buildings to contract like that.

[East Dubzz]

Looks like we’re going to come up just short of the all-time record. At -29. Weird temp fluctuations. It was -29 at 5am, then -24 at 6am, then went back to -29 at 7am.

[Thunder98]

-45F in International Falls!

 

[Stormy]

Today's minimum temperature here of -28° occurred at 4:14am!! That's the coldest we have ever had since the February 1996 outbreak, & I'm not really sure how cold it actually got at that time since I was on vacation then. But hey.... I survived the late '70s as a kid of 5-7 years of age!

Edit: sorry, the minimum temp. was at 5:25am.

[westMJim]

For the first time a while there are clear skies here at my house. Officially at GRR it has snowed now for 10 days in a row and at  GRR during that time 25.4” of snow has fallen with a reported 14” now on the ground. Here at my house during that time a total of 33.5 has fallen and I have between 15 and 19” on the ground with a mean of 17.5” Generally with clear skies the temperature here at my house is colder then the airport but today that is not the case at GRR the temperature is reported at -10 while here at my house I have -5.2 at my “cold” spot and -5.1 at my “warmer” spot either way that is rounded off to -5°  Now the biggest question is will it reach 50 during this warm up?

[jaster220]

Love the wording! I missed out on this stuff due to unfavorable surf winds but much of SWMI belts had a taste. 

 

 

 

Special Weather StatementSpecial Weather Statement
National Weather Service Buffalo NY
854 AM EST THU JAN 31 2019

NYZ006>008-311645-
Jefferson-Oswego-Lewis-
854 AM EST THU JAN 31 2019

...A BAND OF LAKE EFFECT SNOW WILL AFFECT SOUTHWESTERN JEFFERSON...
LEWIS AND NORTHEASTERN OSWEGO COUNTIES...

At 849 AM EST, A band of lake effect snow producing snow fall rates
of 2 to 4 inches per hour is pummeling an area from Pulaski north to
Adams and east across the Tug Hill Plateau to Lowville and Croghan.
This band will remain nearly stationary into the afternoon. Winds in
excess of 30 mph are also occuring with the band with drifting and
blowing snow. Visibilities will drop quickly to near zero in this
band of lake effect snow.

Locations impacted include...
Sandy Island Beach State Park, Stony Point, Lowville, Pulaski, Adams,
Redfield, Selkirk Shores State Park, Highmarket, Adams Center,
Southwick Beach State Park, Barnes Corners, Whetstone Gulf State
Park, Richland, Denmark, New Bremen, Watson, Martinsburg, Henderson,
Lyonsdale and Greig.

This includes Interstate 81 between exits 36 and 42.

LAT...LON 4352 7531 4353 7649 4356 7645 4357 7636
4356 7631 4358 7626 4378 7629 4384 7635
4398 7516 4361 7511
$

 

[westMJim]

While this is more of a snow fall report then a cold report but due to the fact that a lot of the snow fall was due to the cold. 

As the snow has now stopped here at my house, I thought it would be a good time to see what the official snow depth is at the major reporting stations around the state of Michigan. All reports are at the official NWS offices.  Grand Rapids 14” Muskegon 15” Detroit 5” Flint 8” Saginaw 9” Alpena 23” Houghton Lake 16” Sault Ste Marie 27” Marquette 22”  Here at my house I have a range of between 15” to 19” there are several “drifts” of between 24 and 29” BTY that official depth of 14” is not that deep for Grand Rapids the average deepest snow depth at Grand Rapids since 1950 is 12”  There have been many winters were the snow has gotten over 20 deep here in GR the last time there was 20” on the ground was in 2014 and there have been a reported 38 winters in the past where there has been 14” of more on the ground at one time with the most being 27” in 1978

[Cfweather]

Waterloo hit -31 overnight. We set a record for the day but missed the all time record by a degree or two. I’m not complaining about that. My furnace is only a year old and could still barely keep up.

We’ve already warmed to near yesterday’s high of -14. I will be so glad to be near 0 today. Sad thing to say!

[Niko]

-15F IMBY was the low. Broke a record. All time record is -21F for DTW. Still remains untouched.

[Tom]

At least someone managed to set an all-time record low!

 

 

[james1976]

Waterloo hit -31 overnight. We set a record for the day but missed the all time record by a degree or two. I’m not complaining about that. My furnace is only a year old and could still barely keep up.

We’ve already warmed to near yesterday’s high of -14. I will be so glad to be near 0 today. Sad thing to say!

-31?? Wow. I think the all time low is -34 for Waterloo

[Madtown]

looks like the weather station hit 28 below this am...already up to -17

[Cfweather]

-31?? Wow. I think the all time low is -34 for Waterloo

Yep it is. I double checked after I posted but didn’t go back and add that. I’m still ok with missing it. My furnace is ok with that too

[jaster220]

Today's minimum temperature here of -28° occurred at 4:14am!! That's the coldest we have ever had since the February 1996 outbreak, & I'm not really sure how cold it actually got at that time since I was on vacation then. But hey.... I survived the late '70s as a kid of 5-7 years of age!

Edit: sorry, the minimum temp. was at 5:25am.

 

I was a H.S. freshman in '78-79 when we had WC warnings for -60F and only one of my buddy's parents (mother ofc) told him he was not allowed to go out to enjoy winter fun. We had a nice snow pack at the time and I remember we all thought that was super lame. Snowball fights, snowmobiling, sledding, snowshoeing, snow camp building, ice hockey, etc.. We used to keep busy doing all of that stuff back then. Coming home with blue and numb extremities was pretty common, but considered a great time cuz we were able to be outside enjoying the winter wonderland. Those were the days..   

[Grizzcoat]

Legit -56F at Cotton,Mn. 

 

https://www.duluthnewstribune.com/news/weather/4564515-update-cotton-hits-56-below-morning-and-thats-not-wind-chill?fbclid=IwAR3MfogA2uuZDRivV5FQ3dUtkF0qFntdlv5QctUwQNtQDSI-5Xw1s2PQDBo

[Stormy]

I was a H.S. freshman in '78-79 when we had WC warnings for -60F and only one of my buddy's parents (mother ofc) told him he was not allowed to go out to enjoy winter fun. We had a nice snow pack at the time and I remember we all thought that was super lame. Snowball fights, snowmobiling, sledding, snowshoeing, snow camp building, ice hockey, etc.. We used to keep busy doing all of that stuff back then. Coming home with blue and numb extremities was pretty common, but considered a great time cuz we were able to be outside enjoying the winter wonderland. Those were the days..

 

Yeah we used to have a great time sledding down the hills in the fields we have in this area, including the snow packed local gravel roads. We used the steel runner type sleds which could really fly if the snow was packed and hard. That fluff stuff didn't make good sledding! Right now the gravel rds are snow packed, but haven't gone sledding for many years. I've always lived along a well traveled paved road & the snow plow goes before daybreak. Many times as a kid had my fingers really hurting as I warmed them up & maybe that's why I still have problems with my hands getting cold easily.

[Madtown]

-8 nice out there right now!

[Stormy]

http://mesonet.agron.iastate.edu/

Iowa Environmental Mesonet (IEM) daily feature

[gosaints]

Legit -56F at Cotton,Mn.

 

https://www.duluthnewstribune.com/news/weather/4564515-update-cotton-hits-56-below-morning-and-thats-not-wind-chill?fbclid=IwAR3MfogA2uuZDRivV5FQ3dUtkF0qFntdlv5QctUwQNtQDSI-5Xw1s2PQDBo

tower -60??

[East Dubzz]

http://mesonet.agron.iastate.edu/

Iowa Environmental Mesonet (IEM) daily feature

Interesting how every single one of those came before the change to the new wind chill calculation. I’m assuming it’s not adjusted for that?

[Grizzcoat]

Interesting how every single one of those came before the change to the new wind chill calculation. I’m assuming it’s not adjusted for that?

Good question. I'd assume they adjusted the pre Nov-2001 data to match up with the post Nov-2001 data. Who knows.unless you can actually cruch the numbers. I know from living in MN in the 80's and 90's and from seeing what was reported in MN recently that it "seems" everything is now on the post 2001 scale. But what do I know. I will also add that the Waterloo data was done pre ASOS- and with an instrument shelter and wind dials. Much like the -20F air temp at DSM on 1/ 30/19 was first -20F recorded at DSM with ASOS, previously on 2/4/1996 it was done with pre ASOS and with an instrument shelter. So many variables involved that one must be really up to speed on how things are measured now and previously and especially back in the "day" -- pre NWS- say late 1800's early 1900's. Some of those temps , due to the locations they were measured in - are not on par with today's locations.  For example- -30F in Jan of 1905 in DSM (measured in a river bottom) is not on par with -26F measured at DSM airport in 1996. Apples to oranges. 

[snowstorm83]

The old wind chill calculation was wild. I remember watching a news clip of the Jan 1985 cold snap on Youtube with a map of wind chills of -42 in Memphis and -56 in Nashville.

[VMB443]

Funny how now that it’s only -8 people are venturing out again. I guess temps like many things are relative!

[East Dubzz]

Only got up to -7 today and has been holding steady there for several hours now. The NWS has us up to about -1 by now. The temperature will actually hold steady or rise throughout the night I believe, but it’ll be interesting to see how long we can keep the temp at 0 or lower streak going.

[Beltrami Island]

In Phoenix since yesterday. 99 degree difference between Fargo Wednesday morning and Phoenix Wednesday afternoon.

I was sweating in shorts and short sleeves at 70 and sun today meanwhile others are wearing pants and long sleeves.

I guess it only got to -45 in INL versus the forecast of -49. Bde only got to -39 versus the forecast of -45.

Glad I have somebody watching my house otherwise I would be paranoid about my furnace going out.

[St Paul Storm]

In Phoenix since yesterday. 99 degree difference between Fargo Wednesday morning and Phoenix Wednesday afternoon.

I was sweating in shorts and short sleeves at 70 and sun today meanwhile others are wearing pants and long sleeves.

I guess it only got to -45 in INL versus the forecast of -49. Bde only got to -39 versus the forecast of -45.

Glad I have somebody watching my house otherwise I would be paranoid about my furnace going out.

My father in law watches his neighbor’s house during the winter while they reside in Phoenix. He went into their house yesterday and it was 29 degrees. Windows were completely iced over, 2 pipes burst. Furnace went out the day before apparently. Lots of damage. Glad you have someone watching your house.