Coldest day in history in Sioux Falls South Dakota (Brookings: calculating, to live)

[Norske]

I wonder if anyone out there will be able to tell me what the coldest day in history was in Sioux Falls South Dakota? I have heard one say that 95 degrees below zero was experienced (wind chill that is). Is this correct?

[ElkHunter]

That's probably pretty close. But normally folks don't take into account wind chill. The reason is that wind chill is computed as to how cold it feels on bare skin. Not how cold it is on bare skin, but how it feels. It has nothing to do with cars starting and such.

But -95 with wind chill is not out of the question.

[Jammie]

Average Weather for Sioux Falls, SD - Temperature and Precipitation

Well, it looks like the coldest actual temp was -42 in Sx. Falls. But let me send a PM to Dan, our meteorologist. He may be able to give us the info as to what the lowest windchill temps were. Just think, Sx. Falls isn't even the coldest part of the state. BRRRR

[DaninEGF]

Originally Posted by Jammie

Average Weather for Sioux Falls, SD - Temperature and Precipitation

Well, it looks like the coldest actual temp was -42 in Sx. Falls. But let me send a PM to Dan, our meteorologist. He may be able to give us the info as to what the lowest windchill temps were. Just think, Sx. Falls isn't even the coldest part of the state. BRRRR

Jammie is correct....-42 (actual temp) is the coldest back in 1899....Here is a top 5. This data is avbl on the NWS Sioux Falls web site under local climate data under the tab NOWdata (NOAA Online Weather Data).

SIOUX FALLS FOSS FLD (397667)
Extremes
Lowest Daily Minimum Temperature (degrees F)
Days: 1/1 - 12/31
Length of period: 1 day
Years: 1893-2007

Rank Value Ending Date
1 -42.0 2/9/1899
2 -40.0 2/11/1899
3 -38.0 1/12/1912, 2/8/1899
5 -37.0 2/2/1905
6 -36.0 1/19/1970, 2/2/1917
8 -35.0 2/3/1917, 2/10/1893
10 -33.0 1/13/1916

Here are the warmest days ever....

SIOUX FALLS FOSS FLD (397667)
Extremes
Highest Daily Maximum Temperature (degrees F)
Days: 1/1 - 12/31
Length of period: 1 day
Years: 1893-2007

Rank Value Ending Date
1 110.0 6/21/1988, 7/17/1936
3 109.0 8/24/1936, 7/5/1936
5 108.0 7/9/1989, 8/26/1973, 7/29/1947, 7/4/1936, 7/25/1894
10 107.0 7/12/1995



Now...as for wind chills official records of these are not kept. They are more used in the short term during the event or day itself for issuance of warnings, etc but not normally kept as part of the recorded climatological database.

Interestingly...you may not be aware but the wind chill formula changed in 2001....Meteorological Services of Canada and the NWS along with other partners got together and came up with a revised formula for calculating the wind chill. It was felt the old one (used up through 2000) was over exaggerating the affect of cold on a human body and thus too cold values were given. The new formula values for wind and temp give warmer readings than the previous formula. For this reason....having a database of record wind chills is tough. For -30F and 30 mph wind the old formula used prior to 2001 would give a wind chill of -93F while currently the same conditions would be reported as a wind chill of -65.

To compare the old and new wind chills
GOLDEN GATE WEATHER SERVICES- Wind Chill, New and Old

Another good link
NWS Wind Chill Questions and Answers

Wind chill info from NWS FSD
NWS Sioux Falls, SD Wind Chill

And finally a link to climate and past weather for many SD cities from the SD Climatology Office at SDSU in Brookings
Climate: South Dakota Climate and Weather

[ElkHunter]

Dan, you can appreciate this.

In South Dakota, we don't count wind chill. We don't pay no tention to the darn thermometer. We just put old blue out and we wait 3 minutes. If we got to go out and bust him loose from the tree, it's cold.

[DaninEGF]

Originally Posted by jgussler

Dan, you can appreciate this.

In South Dakota, we don't count wind chill. We don't pay no tention to the darn thermometer. We just put old blue out and we wait 3 minutes. If we got to go out and bust him loose from the tree, it's cold.

Very funny....thanks for the laugh

Dan

[Trumpers]

Ok..with weather like that, now many months of snow do you usually have? Do you get snowed in often and have to miss work as a result? Power outages occur often as a result?

[Jammie]

Originally Posted by Trumpers

Ok..with weather like that, now many months of snow do you usually have? Do you get snowed in often and have to miss work as a result? Power outages occur often as a result?

We don't have a lot of power outages anymore. Back in the 50s and 60s, REA used to be out many days of the winter, but things have improved since then. So losing electricity is a rare occurence. The last time it happened in my town is when we had an ice storm right after Thanksgiving, 2005. (?) Ours only flashed off and on and the most we lost it for was 2 hours. Some people who lived in the country were less fortunate and didn't have theirs restored until New Years.

MOST of the people in our state try to live close enough to work that we don't miss much work. Employers frown on that unless the interstate is closed or you work in a factory and they actually shut it down.

Snow in southeastern So. Dak. has started as early as the end of Sept. and it's snowed throughout the winter~finally melting the beginning of May. But keep in mind, that's a HARD winter and generally it snows in late Oct. or Nov. Sometimes we get melts inbetween and we've been starting to see spring by mid to late March.

In the Hills, their temps often get above freezing during the winter so they don't have snow lying around the entire season. But they actually get a lot of snow compared to East River.