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The long freeze:
Posted: (January 16, 2010 03:31 pm)
This freeze have been record-breaking in its length, by a decisive margin. There have been several streaks of 5 consecutive lows of freezing or below, as runners up to one streak of 8 (December 29, 2000-Jan 5, 2001) With that new record so far above the old record of 5 days, I never thought I would see the likes of that again, let alone be equaled. Or exceed. By three days so far.
Other notes--the lowest temperature at my house since Jan 2003. The coldest high temperature since 1996, and there hasn't been a lower high temperature since 1989, the time of the great snow.
The water temp in our ocean buoy 41008, located 40 miles ENE of us---not just easily modifiable shelf water, but true ocean water, has fallen to the lowest reading since December 1989. Since I started my weather journal, the lowest temperature at the buoy has been 50.9 It has reached 47.5 today January 13, down 9 degrees from January 2nd.
Our official readings at KSSI
Jan 2 34 / 50
Jan 3 27 / 43
Jan 4 26 / 46
Jan 5 27 / 44
Jan 6 26 / 48
Jan 7 27 / 51
Jan 8 32 / 46
Jan 9 25 / 36
Jan 10 23 / 42
Jan 11 24 / 50
Jan 12 31 / 55
Jan 13 28 / 51
Jan 14 30 /
The readings at my house were somewhat different. From
left to right are my house temperatures, normal temperatures, and departure from normal The long streak II!:
Jan 2........32.0 / 48.9......43.6 / 60.4......-11.5
Jan 3........27.0 / 42.6......43.6 / 60.4......-17.2
Jan 4........24.6 / 44.8......43.6 / 60.3......-17.2
Jan 5........26.1 / 43.2......43.5 / 60.3......-17.2
Jan 6........25.2 / 46.6......43.4 / 60.3......-15.9
Jan 7........27.0 / 51.3......43.4 / 60.3......-12.7
Jan 8 .......32.2 / 46.6 .....43.3 / 60.1......-12.3....0.07" rain
Jan 9........24.6 / 35.4......43.2 / 60.2......-21.7
Jan 10......22.5 / 41.2......43.3 / 60.3......-19.9
Jan 11......23.5 / 48.7......43.3 / 60.3......-15.7
Jan 12......30.0 / 53.4......43.2 / 60.3......-10.0
Jan 13......28.6 / 50.0......43.0 / 60.2......-12.3
Jan 14......33.1 / 56.5......42.9 / 60.2.......-6.7
Duration of freezing temps, the hours below freezing, has also set a record for any cold spell here:
January 3 freeze duration 8 hours.
January 4 freeze duration 8 1/2 hours
January 5 freeze duration 8 1/2 hours
January 6 freeze duration 8 1/2 hours
January 7 freeze duration 6 1/2 hours
January 8 freeze duration a few minutes
January 9 freeze duration 18 1/2 hours
January 10 freeze duration 14 hours
January 11 freeze duration 9 hours
January 12 freeze duration 5 hours
January 13 freeze duration 4 hours
January 14 freeze duration 3 hours
Total 93.5 hours at or below freezing. Amazing!
There are some interesting differences. We advected down to freezing on Jan 2, while our official reading did not. However, on Jan 8, officially we advected down to freezing, while our house reading did not. On Friday, we barely kept our freeze streak intact!
Our departure from normal on Jan 9 was -21.7, our greatest daily departure below normal in my journal's record (beginning Nov 22, 2003).
There were 3 cold fronts that created this streak, on Jan 2, Jan 8, and Jan 12th. No significant warm ups between fronts, as you can see by our continuous stretch of daily temperature departures 10 or more degrees below normal.
Alas, no wintry precip of any kind.
We have a chance of another freeze tomorrow morning. The high today was only 50, it is clear, and the wind is calm. The temp fell rapidly in the two hour period centered on sunset. However, the dew point is above freezing, and cirrus is heading our way. It is 38.5 now, but the temperature has fallen less than a degree in the last hour. The great freeze is over I think.
We ultimately did freeze at the KSSI station this morning. Oddly, we were 3 degrees warmer according to our house thermometers--and normally our observations are closer. We are frequently a degree or two cooler at night because the official station is 2 miles further south, and less than a mile from water on three sides. But for the house to be 3 degrees warmer is....unusual. The house reading is obviously in error, because there was a rimy frost over everything--frost like I've never seen. I don't know why there is a discrepancy--our thermometers are well placed.
12 freezes is the average total for a whole winter.
Other notes--the lowest temperature at my house since Jan 2003. The coldest high temperature since 1996, and there hasn't been a lower high temperature since 1989, the time of the great snow.
The water temp in our ocean buoy 41008, located 40 miles ENE of us---not just easily modifiable shelf water, but true ocean water, has fallen to the lowest reading since December 1989. Since I started my weather journal, the lowest temperature at the buoy has been 50.9 It has reached 47.5 today January 13, down 9 degrees from January 2nd.
Our official readings at KSSI
Jan 2 34 / 50
Jan 3 27 / 43
Jan 4 26 / 46
Jan 5 27 / 44
Jan 6 26 / 48
Jan 7 27 / 51
Jan 8 32 / 46
Jan 9 25 / 36
Jan 10 23 / 42
Jan 11 24 / 50
Jan 12 31 / 55
Jan 13 28 / 51
Jan 14 30 /
The readings at my house were somewhat different. From
left to right are my house temperatures, normal temperatures, and departure from normal The long streak II!:
Jan 2........32.0 / 48.9......43.6 / 60.4......-11.5
Jan 3........27.0 / 42.6......43.6 / 60.4......-17.2
Jan 4........24.6 / 44.8......43.6 / 60.3......-17.2
Jan 5........26.1 / 43.2......43.5 / 60.3......-17.2
Jan 6........25.2 / 46.6......43.4 / 60.3......-15.9
Jan 7........27.0 / 51.3......43.4 / 60.3......-12.7
Jan 8 .......32.2 / 46.6 .....43.3 / 60.1......-12.3....0.07" rain
Jan 9........24.6 / 35.4......43.2 / 60.2......-21.7
Jan 10......22.5 / 41.2......43.3 / 60.3......-19.9
Jan 11......23.5 / 48.7......43.3 / 60.3......-15.7
Jan 12......30.0 / 53.4......43.2 / 60.3......-10.0
Jan 13......28.6 / 50.0......43.0 / 60.2......-12.3
Jan 14......33.1 / 56.5......42.9 / 60.2.......-6.7
Duration of freezing temps, the hours below freezing, has also set a record for any cold spell here:
January 3 freeze duration 8 hours.
January 4 freeze duration 8 1/2 hours
January 5 freeze duration 8 1/2 hours
January 6 freeze duration 8 1/2 hours
January 7 freeze duration 6 1/2 hours
January 8 freeze duration a few minutes
January 9 freeze duration 18 1/2 hours
January 10 freeze duration 14 hours
January 11 freeze duration 9 hours
January 12 freeze duration 5 hours
January 13 freeze duration 4 hours
January 14 freeze duration 3 hours
Total 93.5 hours at or below freezing. Amazing!
There are some interesting differences. We advected down to freezing on Jan 2, while our official reading did not. However, on Jan 8, officially we advected down to freezing, while our house reading did not. On Friday, we barely kept our freeze streak intact!
Our departure from normal on Jan 9 was -21.7, our greatest daily departure below normal in my journal's record (beginning Nov 22, 2003).
There were 3 cold fronts that created this streak, on Jan 2, Jan 8, and Jan 12th. No significant warm ups between fronts, as you can see by our continuous stretch of daily temperature departures 10 or more degrees below normal.
Alas, no wintry precip of any kind.
We have a chance of another freeze tomorrow morning. The high today was only 50, it is clear, and the wind is calm. The temp fell rapidly in the two hour period centered on sunset. However, the dew point is above freezing, and cirrus is heading our way. It is 38.5 now, but the temperature has fallen less than a degree in the last hour. The great freeze is over I think.
We ultimately did freeze at the KSSI station this morning. Oddly, we were 3 degrees warmer according to our house thermometers--and normally our observations are closer. We are frequently a degree or two cooler at night because the official station is 2 miles further south, and less than a mile from water on three sides. But for the house to be 3 degrees warmer is....unusual. The house reading is obviously in error, because there was a rimy frost over everything--frost like I've never seen. I don't know why there is a discrepancy--our thermometers are well placed.
12 freezes is the average total for a whole winter.
Comments On This Blog Article
[Offline]
Hey Rob
Posted: January 20, 2010 07:54 pm by: StSimonsIslandGAGuy
The reporting site KSSI is about 2 miles due south of me, on the southern part of St. Simons, with exposure to the ocean to the east, south, and west within less than one mile.
Our house is about as far from the ocean on the east, but more land to our west and south than at the official recording site.
We typically are around 1 to 1.5 degrees cooler on a radiation night, and during advective/windy nights, about the same.
We occasionally have bigger variations--but it's been a while since we recorded a low 3 degrees warmer at our house than at the KSSI site.
And our thermometer was wrong, rimy fairy frost on all the trees, the grass on the ground whether under trees or open.
Here is the local statement from the JAX weather office about the freezing fog on the morning of my 41st birthday:
Freezing Fog Event: January 14, 2010
Freezing Fog Event: January 14, 2010
Angie Enyedi, NWS Jacksonville
An unusual freezing fog event happened this morning across portions of the Jacksonville County Warning Area (CWA). Freezing fog is defined as a suspension of numerous minute ice crystals in the air, or water droplets at temperatures below 0 ° C, based at the Earth’s surface, which reduces horizontal visibility. Freezing fog is also called ice fog.
This morning a ridge of high pressure was centered over coastal South Carolina and coastal Southeast Georgia. A light and shallow northeast flow filtered over much of the Jacksonville CWA around this ridge. The moist and stable layer extended to about 400 feet above ground level (Figure 1, 12Z KJAX Sounding), then the airmass was significantly drier however strong subsidence remained in place.
Temperatures fell below freezing around midnight at the Jacksonville International Airport (JIA). The ambient temperature was around 32 ° F and dew point 31 ° F. Through 8 am local time (about 9 hours), the temperature at JIA remained below freezing with dew point depressions of only 1 ° F. Calm winds and passing thin cirrus allowed almost ideal radiational cooling conditions to much of the CWA.
Freezing fog was reported from Alma, Georgia to Gainesville, Florida. Much of the observations were reported across northwest Duval County where moderate moisture advection combined with cold temperatures (Figure 2, MSAS surface analysis).
Sometimes freezing fog can settle on surfaces and create ice patches. A special weather statement was issued early this morning to alert motorists of this potential hazard.
[Offline]
Cold
Posted: January 18, 2010 10:30 pm by: MichaelSTL
No records were set around here, but it was the coldest start of the year since 1979 (January 1-12, details posted at my blog); also, oddly, St. Louis didn't officially go below zero - even though many surrounding NWS stations (around the St. Louis metro area, including some fairly close to the official site) went as low as 8 below, leaving the streak since 1999 intact (I has fully expected it to happen based on forecasts and temperatures trends). It also lead to snowcover lasting for a week, fairly long for recent years; even the much heavier snowfalls in 2008 melted faster. Although, it has since gotten much warmer; the monthly anomaly has already fallen by half (also a lot of fog the past few days, perhaps from the cold ground and warm moist air).
[Offline]
Cold
Posted: January 18, 2010 07:17 pm by: RobertSpeta
Expecially for being so close to the ocean. Now what I'm curios is your place closer than where SSI is? Maybe that is why your temps are slightly warmer due to local effect.
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