Record High and Record Low for one day set in one day

[cjg5]

I wonder if record high and record low have been set like this anywhere else...

[ben86]

Originally Posted by cjg5

I wonder if record high and record low have been set like this anywhere else...

I'm fairly sure it's impossible in this country. The only equivalent I can remember was in a Scottish mountain valley location called Altnaharra one day in 2003 (can't remember the date): a pool of cold air got displaced by a warm front coming in from the northwest, throw in a foehn effect, and the place ended up with a low of -9C and a high of +9C, making it both the coldest and warmest temperature recorded anywhere in the UK that day. Now if something like that has ever happened in a country the size of the US it really would be worth reading about.

[koyaanisqatsi1]

All-time record is 1946 on the 6th when the maximum dropped from 39.1C, at 4pm, to 19C at 5pm!

[fisheye]

In the late 1960’s (it could have been early 70’s?) I was in basic training in Fort Knox, KY. They marched us eight miles out to the firing range and then we also had our night infiltration and bivouac.

We started off marching out in a thunderstorm with temperatures in the high seventies. During the day the temperature dropped. They did set up fire barrels to help keep us warm. We were told that the temperature went down to twenty below that night. It was almost a hundred degree drop. It was also the coldest that I have ever been. They did feel sorry for us after we settled into our sleeping bags - they bussed us back to the camp.

I was always curious if there were any records of that drastic change?

[Rozenn]

A weather station in Paris area (Roissy airport) almost did it on December 31st 1978, with a high of 12C/54F and a low of -11C/12F. This day still holds the record low and held the record high too until 2006. It should be noted that it's a rather young weather station (it opened in 1974) and the other ones in Paris area set their records on other dates.
This temperature drop was still quite sharp for our standards and was caused by a well defined cold front with big temperature differences over small distances. I read that at 4 pm it was still 11C/52F at Orly airport in the southern suburbs while it was already -10C/14F at CDG airport in the northern suburbs. Both airports are about 40 km apart.

[wawa1992]

Originally Posted by fisheye

In the late 1960’s (it could have been early 70’s?) I was in basic training in Fort Knox, KY. They marched us eight miles out to the firing range and then we also had our night infiltration and bivouac.

We started off marching out in a thunderstorm with temperatures in the high seventies. During the day the temperature dropped. They did set up fire barrels to help keep us warm. We were told that the temperature went down to twenty below that night. It was almost a hundred degree drop. It was also the coldest that I have ever been. They did feel sorry for us after we settled into our sleeping bags - they bussed us back to the camp.

I was always curious if there were any records of that drastic change?

Twenty below? Maybe with wind chill. But I could definitely see twenty above - and that's extremely cold when you've been in the high seventies.