Storm Impacting the Northwest U.S.; Fire Weather Conditions in Southern California; Severe Weather in the South

A Pacific storm is bringing areas of low elevation rain, moderate to heavy mountain snow, and high winds to the Northwest. Strong Santa Ana winds and very dry conditions are producing elevated to critical fire weather conditions in southern California. Isolated strong to severe thunderstorms are possible through early Wednesday morning across parts of northeast Texas into western Tennessee. Read More >

The Arctic Outbreak of February 1-4, 1996

From February 1-4, 1996, arctic temperatures overspread the Upper Mississippi River Valley (Table 1). The culprit was a frigid airmass which moved into the region in late January. With clear skies at night, temperatures plummeted into the 30s below zero over much of the area. This blast of arctic air set all-time record low temperatures for Iowa, Minnesota, and Wisconsin: Elkader, IA (tied the record at -47 on the 3rd); Courderay, WI (-55 on the 4th); and Tower, MN (-60 on the 4th).

The average four-day temperature in Wisconsin during the cold wave was -18.3 degrees, with an even colder -23.6 degree average in Minnesota. In Rochester, MN, temperatures stayed below zero from the morning of the 29th until midnight on the 5th (Fig. 1).

Location	2/1/1996	2/2/1996	2/3/1996	2/4/1996
Location	High / Low	High / Low	High / Low	High / Low
Charles City, IA	-5 / -23*	-12* / -32*	-13* / -30*	0 / -25*
Decorah, IA	-5 / -25	-13* / -34	-13* / -41*	1 / -36*
Elkader, IA	-5 / -23	-5* / -32	-13* / -47*	0 / -38*
Oelwein, IA	-11* / -28*	-20* / -31*	-15* / -32*	-1 / -22*
Austin, MN	-13* / -28	-19* / -34*	-15* / -31*	0 / -25*
Rochester, MN	-13* / -27	-20* / -35*	-15* / -30	1 / -24
Winona, MN	-4* / -20	-16* / -31*	-11* / -31*	4 / -31*
La Crosse, WI	-8 / -26	-13* / -34*	-9 / -36*	0 / -31*
Prairie Du Chien, WI	-1* / -17	-8* / -29	-11* / -36*	0 / -31*
Medford, WI	-12* / -35*	-5 / -37*	-19* / -37*	-12* / -37*

Table 1. Listing of high and low temperatures (F) for February 1-4, 1996. The * denotes a record temperature.

Fig 1. Temperature trace (F) for Rochester, MN.

Follow us on Twitter

Follow us on Facebook

Follow us on YouTube

ARX RSS Feed