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Some of the coldest temperatures I have personally experienced and their locations; all in F.:
Dutchess County, New York, Jan 22, 1961; < -30. My unofficial (but probably accurate) thermometer read -38.
Bellingham, Washington, Jan 22, 1969; 3 at the airport, -4 at the house I was renting.
Salem, Oregon, Dec 8, 1972; -12. The was an all time coldest ever temperature dating back to 1892.
Albany, Oregon, Feb 4, 1989; 0. Not a record, they saw -4 in 1899 during the western Hemisphere's worst cold wave since the 1700's.
San Jose, California, Feb 6, 1989; 23. That's chilly for San Jose but the Willamette Valley didn't see temperatures rise above that for a week.
Santiam Pass, Late December, 1990; -16. We were snow camping a few miles south of the pass in a canyon and I read that on a thermometer in a snow cave where it was considerably warmer than outside ambient.
And one more.....Pinnacles National Monument near Hollister California. 26 degrees; and what made this so unusual was it happened in 2006; on the 8th of April after a once in a lifetime snowstorm that dumped up to 3/4 inch of snow and slush on the countryside.
Some of the coldest temperatures I have personally experienced and their locations; all in F.:
Dutchess County, New York, Jan 22, 1961; < -30. My unofficial (but probably accurate) thermometer read -38.
Bellingham, Washington, Jan 22, 1969; 3 at the airport, -4 at the house I was renting.
Salem, Oregon, Dec 8, 1972; -12. The was an all time coldest ever temperature dating back to 1892.
Albany, Oregon, Feb 4, 1989; 0. Not a record, they saw -4 in 1899 during the western Hemisphere's worst cold wave since the 1700's.
San Jose, California, Feb 6, 1989; 23. That's chilly for San Jose but the Willamette Valley didn't see temperatures rise above that for a week. Santiam Pass, Late December, 1990; -16. We were snow camping a few miles south of the pass in a canyon and I read that on a thermometer in a snow cave where it was considerably warmer than outside ambient.
And one more.....Pinnacles National Monument near Hollister California. 26 degrees; and what made this so unusual was it happened in 2006; on the 8th of April after a once in a lifetime snowstorm that dumped up to 3/4 inch of snow and slush on the countryside.
That is some beautiful country. Thanks for the input.
Such great photos! I remember the only Christmas that was "white" when I was growing up in 89..I was in the 5 or 6th grade and it snowed for about 5 hours and actually stayed on the ground until the 26Th which is a big deal in southern ga and north florida...There was something magical about seeing your everyday surroundings covered in white...it was the first snow I had ever seen. and even at that time in my life I knew it was a once in a lifetime event seeing snow that far south...I will never ever forget the Christmas of 89..although I have seen many snowfalls since then I always remember that first one...
I've lived in Seattle my whole life, 19 years. I have good memories of December 2008, when there was snow on the ground for ten days (very unusual here) and it was eleven inches deep for a couple of those days. There was a white Christmas that year and the snow came in several snowstorms of just a few inches, which kept things interesting. A few days into that cold event, a convergence zone was predicted to bring a lot of snow, but there was nothing that day; instead warm air melted almost all the snow. But that night, I was woken up at 5:00 AM by a loud boom of thunder, and looked outside to see snow falling: thundersnow! It snowed all night and the next day too.
January of this year saw a nice snowstorm, with a surprise ice storm the day after causing 50 million dollars in damage. The ice storm was the kind of thing that only happens every 50 years or so here. That's the only time in my life I remember seeing an ice storm warning for Seattle.
I've never seen temperatures ever drop below 14 degrees here, and I've never seen more snow than 6 inches fall in a 24-hour period. I know this climate is capable of single-digit lows and giant snowstorms once in a blue moon, and I hope I get to see one of those sometime soon.
Coldest weather I recall being out in was back in a prolonged cold-snap in the Twin Cities in January of 1977. Lows during throughout the second week were between the mid minus 20's and 30's (air temp) and the wind chills were in the minus 50's. Was between duty stations and a friend from PA was traveling with on the way out to San Diego. Local ski slopes were open and he called me and a local friend on our bluff and the next thing we knew we were heading for the slopes. My recollection was that the wind chill was -56 that night and air temps were in the -30s. It really wasn't that bad on the slopes but those chair lift rides nearly froze you stiff. Never had to wait long in line but there were a few dozen people out there. You'd ride down the hill, ski to your car, warm up with some liquid courage and go out and do it again. We did that for a couple hours and the visits inside the car would last progressively longer and longer.
Coldest weather I recall being out in was back in a prolonged cold-snap in the Twin Cities in January of 1977. Lows during throughout the second week were between the mid minus 20's and 30's (air temp) and the wind chills were in the minus 50's. Was between duty stations and a friend from PA was traveling with on the way out to San Diego. Local ski slopes were open and he called me and a local friend on our bluff and the next thing we knew we were heading for the slopes. My recollection was that the wind chill was -56 that night and air temps were in the -30s. It really wasn't that bad on the slopes but those chair lift rides nearly froze you stiff. Never had to wait long in line but there were a few dozen people out there. You'd ride down the hill, ski to your car, warm up with some liquid courage and go out and do it again. We did that for a couple hours and the visits inside the car would last progressively longer and longer.
Thanks for the input. Any of us who were around in 1977-1979 will never forget those winter. No above normal anywhere in the lower 48 during that January
January of 1977 was a nightmare for a lot of the Midwest. As I wrote in another message, Buffalo was buried for an entire month. Also mentioned, 23.3°F. was the average temperature for the month in Tennessee!
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