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This December was a record coldest for much of the U.S. east of the Mississippi. I remember it well as I had burst pipes all over the place in my rental houses. There was not a lot of snow, just a stretch of very, very cold weather during the end of the month.
Looks like you found a month colder than I did for NY/MA. Too young to remember it very well, though I knew we had some cold, then. Wasn't all that snowy for Long Island, though.
Looks like you found a month colder than I did for NY/MA. Too young to remember it very well, though I knew we had some cold, then. Wasn't all that snowy for Long Island, though.
This was in Memphis, but we had a 10 day stretch where the temperatures did not get above freezing, even during the day. If you really think about it, at 35°N. Latitude, that is pretty epic for a December. I remember it well, not only for the burst pipes, but because during that stretch with all that cold air, we didn't get a bit of snow. Totally wasted.
This was in Memphis, but we had a 10 day stretch where the temperatures did not get above freezing, even during the day. If you really think about it, at 35°N. Latitude, that is pretty epic for a December. I remember it well, not only for the burst pipes, but because during that stretch with all that cold air, we didn't get a bit of snow. Totally wasted.
You keep mentioning burst pipes. I've lived in places with similar cold spells without broken pipes being much of an issue. I'm guessing construction down there is different?
You keep mentioning burst pipes. I've lived in places with similar cold spells without broken pipes being much of an issue. I'm guessing construction down there is different?
Yes, construction is different + they don't always make allowances for extreme cold. First, due to the water table, there are no basements in Memphis. Pipes are either run through the attic or in a tiny crawl space under the house. Most houses are built on slabs, with no crawl space or basements. There are a lot of pipes in exposed walls and yes, in attics. The one that killed me was one that we forgot about, an icemaker water line that went from the interior laundry room, up through the attic, and down to the refrigerator in the kitchen. We thought we had things winterized, the tenants were from Wisconsin and no stranger to cold weather, but we didn't account for the tiny ice maker line. Disaster to the tenth power. During that cold stretch the temperatures in the attic got so cold that the line burst. When things thawed out a neighbor called me and told me that I had 6 ft. long ice sickles hanging down from the eves of my house. Not good. The people were still out of town. When I went over there, the ceilings had crashed in from the water that flowed and flowed from the tiny water pipe for a week. It was a disaster. I never forgot about ice maker lines again.
the deal with the Feb 2nd, 1996 event was predicted and widely covered by the media outlets all over the state and they had all sent their crews to Embarrass (the real ice-box). I recall watching the anticipation on live TV and the horror when they discovered the official NWS thermometer and back-up broke. Off they raced 10 miles to the north to the Tower weather station but they did in fact record a -64 in Embarrass that morning with a thermometer that was later verified for accuracy by Taylor instruments.
Ely, Tower and Embarrass all sit up in the middle of the Minnesota arrowhead and are within 20 miles of each other.
the deal with the Feb 2nd, 1996 event was predicted and widely covered by the media outlets all over the state and they had all sent their crews to Embarrass (the real ice-box). I recall watching the anticipation on live TV and the horror when they discovered the official NWS thermometer and back-up broke. Off they raced 10 miles to the north to the Tower weather station but they did in fact record a -64 in Embarrass that morning with a thermometer that was later verified for accuracy by Taylor instruments.
Here's one I really remember. After a pretty mild Dec.-Feb., March turned into an icebox. I was only in the 6th Grade at the time, but I remember snow being on the ground all month....in March....In Memphis. We just don't see phenomena like this anymore.
March 1960- Look at the widespread cold! 35° F. Average temp for Tennessee in March!
There were broken pipes in Jackson, MS in early January 2010 during that winter I mentioned earlier. A good chunk of the city was without water for a while... we started the semester at my university a week late. This was because of the cold wave a few days earlier. We were below freezing for 2 days straight and below 45 for a week I think.
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January 1982
