Record Low Temperatures in Parts of America

Parts of US cope with record-low temperature
With temperatures forecast to plunge below -50C in some areas, residents are urged to stay indoors and stock up on food.
Last updated: 06 Jan 2014 01:11

Millions of Americans have hunkered down in anticipation of a record-setting "polar vortex" expected to bring dangerously low temperatures to much of the United States.

The rotating pool of cold, dense air was forecast to affect more than half of the continental US throughout Sunday and into Monday and Tuesday, with wind-chill warnings stretching from Montana to Alabama.

The Arctic blast could send temperatures in the US to their lowest in two decades.

"Combined with gusty winds, these temperatures will result in life-threatening wind-chill values," the National Weather service said, noting heavy snow from the eastern Plains to the Great Lakes could bring up to a foot of accumulation.

Weather forecasters said with the wind chill, temperatures could plunge as low as -51C in some areas, prompting authorities in several towns and cities to warn residents to stay indoors and stock up on food.

In such extreme cold, exposed skin would suffer frostbite in as little as five minutes, experts say.

Schools closed

Several states in the Midwest had already received up to a foot of new snow, creating dangerous travel conditions, and prompting church and school closures. Thousands of flights had been cancelled or delayed.

The National Weather Service said the icy temperatures were caused by a relatively infrequent alignment of weather conditions, allowing the Arctic polar vortex to be displaced unusually far south.

"The weather pattern across North America right now is set up to be very favourable for the southward transport of Arctic air," said meteorologist Bob Oravec.

"It's not going to be long-lived," he added, noting temperatures would start to moderate countrywide by the end of the week.

In New York, which declared a state of emergency when storm Hercules swept in on Thursday, John F Kennedy Airport halted operations for more than two hours after a Delta Airlines jet from Toronto slid into a snowbank.

http://www.aljazeera.com/news/americas/2014/01/polar-vortex-us-201415224755674864.html

Watched a news item on it on TV. Reporter took a cup of boiling water and threw it into the air, It reached the ground as ice!

thats cold....

Frostbite in less than five minutes - not good! What the hell is happening to the homeless? Turning into human popsicles?

Probably! Yeah, I heard on the news that if you're caught driving in this in Indiana, you're getting a ticket. Not speeding, not drunk, not running stop signs -- just if you're out on the road in your car.

It's so frickin' cold here in Texas ( !!! ) that I'm shivering in my apartment with the heat blasting away. At a nearby airport they recorded a temperature of -12 C last night.

Don't you have some tent cities in Texas?

We do; I'm hoping those people have found emergency shelter. I know there's been a big effort to get people out of the cold.

I certainly hope so, or there will be a lot of deaths.

Yet it's been a steady 70 F (21 C) here in California. Higher in LA.

@Quill
brrrrr....chilly      

Yeah, I remember L.A. weather. I went in July one year, the temperatures soared up to near 80 before that breeze blew off the ocean each evening and it cooled back into the 60s. I was chilly when I boarded my morning flight at LAX to take me back to Texas, got off the plane and it was 95 degrees at 10 a.m. ...

@ben
is Texas like Australia where houses are built to cope with the heats so if it does get cold it is quite difficult to heat?

I know thats part of the thing with my flat it is all setup to catch the breeze which is great most of the year but means that even if you heat it in winter, if you open the door and all the heat gets swept away.

Ben_Reilly wrote:Yeah, I remember L.A. weather. I went in July one year, the temperatures soared up to near 80 before that breeze blew off the ocean each evening and it cooled back into the 60s. I was chilly when I boarded my morning flight at LAX to take me back to Texas, got off the plane and it was 95 degrees at 10 a.m. ...

LA is basically a coastal desert.  It lacks moisture in the atmosphere, which would otherwise stabilize temperatures.  That's why I like Northern California much more.  It has substantially more moisture in the atmosphere and moderates the temperature extremes.

If you want to experiment, try Phoenix...a piece of the Sonoran Desert at sea level.  In a single day, from late afternoon to night, it can vary 45-50 F degrees.  Absolutely no moisture to stabilize temperatures.

Ben_Reilly wrote:
Yeah, I remember L.A. weather. I went in July one year, the temperatures soared up to near 80 before that breeze blew off the ocean each evening and it cooled back into the 60s. I was chilly when I boarded my morning flight at LAX to take me back to Texas, got off the plane and it was 95 degrees at 10 a.m. ...

  

Travel advisories and guides written down here for visitors to California recommend that people should always carry a sweater or light jacket with them because of those sudden and significant temperature drops...

(There are some areas in Oz with similar advice, such as Melbourne, much of Tasmania, 'round the Snowy Mountains, and up in higher hills around the Blue Mountains, Barrington Tops, Atherton Tableland ~ just not as extensive as many places in North America..).

ON the local TV news a couple of days ago, they showed one inland US airport where the outside temperature (i.e. "in the shade" and about 5 feet above the ground..) had reached minus 57℉ ~ that's a nipple-freezing -49.44 Celsius ! AND apparently, that news bulletin claimed, colder than it was on Mount Everest or at the North Pole for that day (?).   

Polar vortex puts millions across the US at risk from brutally cold weather

• Twenty six states under federal warnings for severe wind chills

• Montana recording a record-making wind chill of -52C (-61F)

• Live blog: life-threatening cold hits North America


Ed Pilkington in New York
The Guardian, Tuesday 7 January 2014

Much of the United States is suffering from record cold temperatures

Millions of Americans from Montana down to as far south as Alabama are being warned that their lives are at risk if they venture out for any length of time into brutally cold conditions that are driving temperatures to their lowest in 20 years.

Severe weather warnings from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration for Minnesota and Wisconsin said that wind chills caused by gusts of up to 30 mph were causing temperatures to plummet to between -37C (-35F) and -46C (-50F). “Exposed flesh will freeze and cause frost bite in only five minutes,” the warning observed, adding that such dangerous conditions were likely to last until at least Tuesday afternoon.
Polar vortex Authorities have warned that exposed flesh can freeze in minutes.

Twenty six states continue to be under federal warnings for severe wind chills as bitterly cold air is swept down from the Arctic, with Montana recording a wind chill of -52C (-61F). The severe weather has already caused havoc in the Northern Plains and is expected to reach the north-east on Tuesday, extending disruption to airports and travellers. More than 3,000 flights were cancelled on Monday and Chicago’s O’Hare International airport has been particularly badly affected.
polar vortex The Chicago skyline sits as a backdrop as fog drifts across Monroe Harbour with temperatures well below zero and wind chills expected to reach 40 to 50 below. Photograph: Charles Rex Arbogast/AP

As a sign of the extraordinary nature of the weather pattern, the federal government has even issued a wind chill warning for Florida. It said that the very cold Arctic air mass would drive temperatures in the north of the state below zero fahrenheit.

Local governments in states across the country were taking exceptional measures to protect their populations. Every school in Minnesota was closed on Monday – the first such blanket precaution in the state in 17 years. Children were also kept away from school in Chicago, dubbed for the duration “Chiberia”.
Polar vortex Children in Grand Blanc, Michigan, play in the snow. Photograph: Michelle Tessier/AP

In Indianapolis, where thousands were struggling without power, mayor Greg Ballard raised a travel warning to red making it illegal to use the roads unless for emergencies. He used his Twitter feed to inform residents how to find shelter.
Polar vortex A man clears snow from his car in Indianapolis. A red travel warning has since been imposed in the city making it illegal to use the roads except for emergencies. Photograph: Reuters

The strife caused by the extreme weather is being blamed on a “polar vortex", a spinning wind that in normal years has a beneficial effect in that it keeps sub-zero air trapped above the North Pole. A weakened polar vortex has allowed the trapped air to spill out of the Arctic and hurtle south in an anti-clockwise movement across the face of the US.
Polar vortex A wrecked semi truck sits in a ditch in Illinois as sub-zero temperatures hit driving conditions. Photograph: John Dixon/AP

Just why the polar vortex has proved to be too weak to contain the cold air this winter will be a matter for intense scientific study and debate for some time to come. The phenomenon might in large part be explained by the natural changes in climate that occur in the Arctic in winter, including the North Atlantic Oscillation that has a dominant impact on wind patterns and storm tracks in the region.

But Noaa, a federal agency, has also floated the possibility that a reduction in summer sea ice cover caused by climate change could be a factor behind the weakening of the polar vortex. That would have the paradoxical effect that while Arctic waters are getting warmer, North America experiences much colder snaps such as the present severe weather as a result of Arctic air spilling out from the North Pole and moving south.

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/jan/06/noaa-warns-lives-risk-polar-vortex-cold

Surely in a lot of those states houses aren't built for cold weather, never mind the tent cities and the homeless. I think this could have some extremely nasty results. Hope it doesn't last as long as they say.

Three AMTrak trains stuck behind snow drifts, just outside Chicago. One from San Francisco, one from LA and one from the east. Don't get stuck on a train: toilets get shitty, water in sink freezes and you can't go outside to pee or you'll freeze the bad boy off.

veya_victaous wrote:@ben
is Texas like Australia where houses are built to cope with the heats so if it does get cold it is quite difficult to heat?

I know thats part of the thing with my flat it is all setup to catch the breeze which is great most of the year but means that even if you heat it in winter, if you open the door and all the heat gets swept away.

We have a slightly more complicated situation in that it all depends on the house. Whenever Texans start to feel too crowded, they just annex a few thousand more acres of prairie or forest into their cities and build, build, build, so we have a lot of newer houses that are built to be more energy efficient overall and are cheaper both to heat and to cool.

But a lot of our dwellings were built during the post-WWII prosperity boom when gas and electricity were dirt cheap and builders apparently saw no end to that situation. They lack insulation or even something as basic as strategic window placement or shade trees. My brother has a massive house and told me last summer he had electric bills as high as $450 just trying to keep the old beast from baking him alive ...

I've been led to believe that it doesn't get very cold in Sydney, though -- lies?

:D   IT has been said before that a Sydney winter's day is like a typical British summer...

Average temp's up in the mid-teens, the coldest overnight/early morning that the coastal villages would ever see is around minus 5 celsius, and that is rare (like every 20 years or so..). Move a few klicks inland, and away from the moderating sea breezes, and those freezing temp's can move into double figures, with some snow falling up above 600 metres most years when the 'ambient' temp's drop below minus 6 celsius ~ that means the Blue Mountains, Barrington Tops, and areas around Bathurst and Orange, (and maybe even the Watagans/Sugarloaf range some years..) will have some snow falls in the depths of winter..     
  In coastal NSW we will also often get a mid-winter "heatwave" where the temp' gets into the low-mid' 20s for a few days !

I'm told that Texas is to northern latitudes as NZ is to southern latitudes.  Of course, I could easily check that out, but I'm lazy.  

@ben
that's the thing it is quite rare, it only happens when there are really strong winds off the southern oceans(but the past few years we have been getting more) that's part of the problem with Melbourne weather, every time the wind shifts to be from the south it gets really cold.

And still to me very cold is under 10C, not minus nothing that's freezing   

like bee said it might drop under 0, in the middle of the night ,in a freezing winter every few years.

Original Quill wrote:
I'm told that Texas is to northern latitudes as NZ is to southern latitudes.  Of course, I could easily check that out, but I'm lazy.  

  

AND travelling even further North and South again ~ if you were to travel as far south of the equator, as cities like New York, Boston and Chicago are to the north (i.e. their latitudes are between 40° and 42° N..), then you could find yourself floating in the Southern Ocean a few kilometres south of Tassie !

 

The Southern Ocean was contrived in the year 2000. It was defined as 20◦ around the globe. It was determined as the ring that was least likely to bisect a country. And indeed, it only bisects southern Chile.

London would be even further south.

@quill
but what else are we going to call it       
it's an ocean and it's south, we have always called it that, I graduated in 2000 and was taught that in primary school (or Antarctic ocean)

veya_victaous wrote:@quill
but what else are we going to call it       
it's an ocean and it's south, we have always called it that, I graduated in 2000 and was taught that in primary school (or Antarctic ocean)

No, I think it's a wonderful---tres romantic name. But in the past, that was the South Pacific, South Atlantic, South Indian ocean. They just created it in the year 2000.

Original Quill wrote:

veya_victaous wrote:
@quill
but what else are we going to call it       
it's an ocean and it's south, we have always called it that, I graduated in 2000 and was taught that in primary school (or Antarctic ocean)

No, I think it's a wonderful---tres romantic name.  But in the past, that was the South Pacific, South Atlantic, South Indian ocean.  They just  created it in the year 2000.

  

AND there was still the "(Great) Southern Ocean" that defined that area directly south of Australia and New Zealand and extending down to the Antarctic, where the Antarctic Ocean then surrounded Antarctica itself  ~ you can find THAT in any Atlas drawn up before 2000...

MORE recent maps show how they simply extended the Southern Ocean naming to encompass the South Atlantic and South Indian Oceans (and only part of the "South Pacific" ~ that name still exists in common usage for that part of the Pacific between Australia and Chile..).  

I still have my primary school atlas from the 1960s sitting among my books here ~ as well as the 'Southern Ocean' clearly shown to the south of Oz , it also has the old USSR dominating the world; Tibet as a separate state; British territories still dominating in the Caribbean and French colonies in the Pacific and Africa; "Irian Jaya", "Sri Lanka" and "Zimbabwe" didn't yet exist; while Yugoslavia and Czechoslovakia were still whole countries, and Germany was in two parts ..

AS far as responsibility for rescues and patrols go, the Southern Ocean is shared between Australia, Argentina and South Africa, with further allied support and backup from the likes of New Zealand and Chile..    

I'm actually glad for the edification. Certainly the term, "Southern Ocean" had a history before 2000.

And I welcome your addition, Bee...I have been, for years, saying that there are seven oceans...not five: North Atlantic, South Atlantic, North Pacific, South Pacific, Arctic Ocean, Indian Ocean and Southern Ocean. The slovenly in the world don't distinguish between North and South Atlantic and Pacific Oceans.

:D 

WHILE checking up the references, it was pointed out in a couple of places that the 2000 agreement has yet to be ratified ~ so that the previous 1953 3rd agreement is still in place..

which means that technically the South Atlantic and South Pacific names still exist ~ though the oceanographers and mapmakers prefer to think of them as both being two parts of single oceans, simply basically divided by the equator running through them.

AND the names South Pacific and South Atlantic are still likely to be used by international shipping and yachtsmen as a matter of convention, even if they someday eventually disappeared off "official" mapping.   

Beekeeper wrote::D 

WHILE checking up the references, it was pointed out in a couple of places that the 2000 agreement has yet to be ratified ~ so that the previous 1953 3rd agreement is still in place..

which means that technically the South Atlantic and South Pacific names still exist ~ though the oceanographers and mapmakers prefer to think of them as both being two parts of single oceans, simply basically divided by the equator running through them.

AND the names South Pacific and South Atlantic are still likely to be used by international shipping an yachtsmen, even if they eventually disappeared off mapping.    

Fascinating. I have followed this stuff since being associated with Rainbow Warrior and the Greenpeace movement. Just an attachment.

I think north Texas is unique in that can get pretty hot AND cold. Not many places seem to have both. Taking a stab at it, I'd guess our highest high in 2013 was around 110 F and our lowest high was maybe 25 F (that's approximately 43 and -4).

Arizona and New Mexico are like that. For them, it's because the Colorado Plateau reaches down approximately to the middle of each state. To the north you can be skiing in freezing temperatures, while to the south it's shorts and t-shirts.

AND there was still the "(Great) Southern Ocean" that defined that area directly south of Australia and New Zealand and extending down to the Antarctic, where the Antarctic Ocean then surrounded Antarctica itself ~ you can find THAT in any Atlas drawn up before 2000...

thanks Bee thats probably where my confusion is.

Original Quill wrote:I'm actually glad for the edification.  Certainly the term, "Southern Ocean" had a history before 2000.  

And I welcome your addition, Bee...I have been, for years, saying that there are seven oceans...not five: North Atlantic, South Atlantic, North Pacific, South Pacific, Arctic Ocean, Indian Ocean and Southern Ocean.  The slovenly in the world don't distinguish between North and South Atlantic and Pacific Oceans.

Hi Quill
From one of my atlas dated 1958 i hope it helps.

Thanks KD,

Yep, it's a good measurement of before and after. Perhaps the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (IOC) has decided to abandon the North and South designations??

Let me guess.It's all down to global warming? Yes?....All because Al Gore said so.

I bet the Russians don't moan about a bit of cold.....Now there's some people with back bone.

Shady wrote:Let me guess.It's all down to global warming? Yes?....All because Al Gore said so.

No, Shady...it's a scientific study.  

Now, go back to sleep, darlin'.  You're s'posed to get ten hours sleep after your pills and warm milk.

It’s so cold that Hell has officially frozen over, but we have something that will warm you right up.

No, it has nothing to do with palm trees and balmy beaches (sorry!). It has more to do with the enduring human spirit that allows us to continue to give back and help others, no matter what the weather forecast has to say.


http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/01/09/inspiring-winter-stories_n_4563084.html?utm_hp_ref=good-news&ir=Good%20News

Shady wrote:Let me guess.It's all down to global warming? Yes?....All because Al Gore said so.

I bet the Russians don't moan about a bit of cold.....Now there's some people with back bone.

Yeah, Al Gore said what about a million climate scientists way smarter than either of us said, Shady. And the study of global warming goes back more than a century. John Tyndall discovered the connection between rising temperatures and what we now call greenhouse gases in 1864.

Of course, if you were born and raised in a place that has always had very cold temperatures, you wouldn't complain or have the same problems as people for whom this is a novel and unprecedented thing. That's just stupid.

Here's how global warming leads to colder temperatures. Every time you claim global warming doesn't lead to extreme cold, I'll know you ignored this link:

http://science.time.com/2014/01/06/climate-change-driving-cold-weather/

You can lead a pirate to water, but you can't make him drink from the fount of knowledge.

Sassy wrote:You can lead a pirate to water, but you can't make him drink from the fount of knowledge.

   Don't think you need to encourage this pirate to drink. Lol

PhilDidge wrote:It’s so cold that Hell has officially frozen over, but we have something that will warm you right up.

No, it has nothing to do with palm trees and balmy beaches (sorry!). It has more to do with the enduring human spirit that allows us to continue to give back and help others, no matter what the weather forecast has to say.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/01/09/inspiring-winter-stories_n_4563084.html?utm_hp_ref=good-news&ir=Good%20News

  

NOT to worry...

I have the palm trees and balmy weather over here..  

  

Shady wrote:
Let me guess.It's all down to global warming? Yes?....All because Al Gore said so.

I bet the Russians don't moan about a bit of cold.....Now there's some people with back bone.

  

You DO realise that you're the only one on here to have mentioned Al Gore, don't you, Shady McShades ?!?

For the record, I've never seen any of Al's doco's, nor read any of his books or articles..   

wow thats cold..

We finally had some rain that turned into sleet then snow....thank goodness ...we need the moisture ....more forecast for Thursday ....bring it!