Major coldwave around Jan 17?

[treant985]

...someone asked earlier about Pittsburg, NH. It came in at -35F.

[Bill O]

In this area things are falling in place for tonight to be colder than last night. Four degrees colder air temp and dewpoints are about 10-15 lower than last night at this time. Westhampton Airport on Long Island is already at -7F. The Pine Barrens of LI and NJ get an A+ at radiational cooling.

[treant985]

In this area things are falling in place for tonight to be colder than last night. Four degrees colder air temp and dewpoints are about 10-15 lower than last night at this time. Westhampton Airport on Long Island is already at -7F. The Pine Barrens of LI and NJ get an A+ at radiational cooling.

It's fun to watch the readings from Westhampton. As soon as the winds increase, the temp shoots up. When it calms down, it drops suddenly. Textbook cold-air drainage/radiational cooling situation. In mountainous areas (like the Sinks in UT), I've seen temps increase by 30 degrees in 20 minutes when the wind picked up and displaced the cold air that had pooled.

[Bill O]

It's fun to watch the readings from Westhampton. As soon as the winds increase, the temp shoots up. When it calms down, it drops suddenly. Textbook cold-air drainage/radiational cooling situation. In mountainous areas (like the Sinks in UT), I've seen temps increase by 30 degrees in 20 minutes when the wind picked up and displaced the cold air that had pooled.

Is there real-time data from the sinks in UT? Those are some of the coldest places in the country.

[h2oeco]

9 F here on the coast of NJ, which is cold for us since we're so close to the ocean... Colder tonight than last night...

Ed

[treant985]

Is there real-time data from the sinks in UT? Those are some of the coldest places in the country.

Nope; I've been working with a meteorologist in the area to try to get one put in, but nothing yet. One was there for a few months as part of a study a few years back, but it was only there for a few months. Nonetheless, in that brief time, it still recorded a -50F temp and that's also when the temp increased by 32.6 degrees (from -33.5 to -0.9) in 20 min around midnight when the winds picked up.

It's tough to get into Peter Sinks (the coldest one) once snow starts falling, so most measurements are made by hand by my friend Tim (the meteorologist mentioned above) at Middle Sink, which is right beside Peter Sinks but runs 5 degrees warmer. He recorded -53F on 1/4/2009 when the next lowest temp in the lower 48 was -35F at Chinook and W Yellowstone, MT.

I have better pics but they're hard to read the index of the alcohol thermometer, so here's one from a bimetal thermometer:
DSC08994.jpg
...the alcohol thermometers' image is below as an attachment but it's hard to read at that size.

[Bill O]

When I was living in SLC (98-2002) I know the middle sink was just a few degrees off the all-time lower 48 low. I think it was students from Utah State that did the readings and I could swear it was in 2001 or 2002. I kept kicking myself because I know the Peter Sink was colder that night and nobody was there to record it.

[treant985]

When I was living in SLC (98-2002) I know the middle sink was just a few degrees off the all-time lower 48 low. I think it was students from Utah State that did the readings and I could swear it was in 2001 or 2002. I kept kicking myself because I know the Peter Sink was colder that night and nobody was there to record it.

Middle Sink hit -62F on 1/30/2002. Probably too dangerous to get into Peter Sinks, although it probably was still a few degrees short of -70F.

[Brad]

It is -22 F here in Maine this morning.

[Steve M]

18f here in Monticello, Florida this morning. Doesn't sound bad until you see how these Florida natives take it.