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Helsinki had a max of -32.5C on 9 Jan 1987, -31.7C on 10 Jan 1987 and -30 on 12 Jan 1987. On those days, there was only about a 6 degree temperature difference between the max and mins.
Not surprising, given the weak daylight Finland recieves in the dead of winter. It seems like the winter abilities of Nordic and Baltic countries are often underestimated. Averages are quite mild for the latitude as the dominant W winds bring moist Atlantic air, but extreme coldsnaps are, well, rather extreme.
Not surprising, given the weak daylight Finland recieves in the dead of winter. It seems like the winter abilities of Nordic and Baltic countries are often underestimated. Averages are quite mild for the latitude as the dominant W winds bring moist Atlantic air, but extreme coldsnaps are, well, rather extreme.
Well, that week in January 1987 was extreme, and the month was the coldest ever recorded in Helsinki. Even the brutal winters of WWII couldn't match January 1987.
For comparison, the winter of 1986 had a low high of -15.9C, and the winter of 1988 had a low high of -9.9C. The winter of 1988 didn't even hit a low of -20C. Also, after 1987 the next time a low temp of -30C was recorded in January 2003, and none since has been recorded, so I think it's fair to say that January 1987 was a once in a lifetime event. Even lows of -20C is something that happens just a few times a normal winter.
Even with the weak daylight, the diurnal changes can be drastic. 2 January 1989 had a high of 1C, and a low of -17.7C. Those extreme lows and low highs of 1987 was a... well, once in a lifetime event.
This nice graph shows how extreme it was. January mean temps since 1951:
I don't know where to find the best data, but the lowest high temperature I'm aware of at the closest weather station was 1F (-17c) on January 19, 1994. History : Weather Underground
I don't know where to find the best data, but the lowest high temperature I'm aware of at the closest weather station was 1F (-17c) on January 19, 1994. History : Weather Underground
Weather Channel has a pretty accurate and detailed data base for historical daily weather records.
This isn't a daily low statistic, but the graph below illustrates the coldest 3 week periods for the city of Chicago. Not bad for 41.5N (and next to a large insulating body of water)
Unfortunately we are in a cycle of milder winters where the number of "extreme" lows have shrunk dramatically.
However, there are some indications that we may be exiting out of this cycle as the PDO has recently flipped to it's cold phase. All we need now is a the AMO to do the same.
I was old enough to remember this brutal cold wave back in January 1977. In kindergarten..... Check out the average highs and lows in and around Chicagoland that month. Our north and northwest suburbs such as Barrington and Antioch bottomed out the lowest I believe.... The city slightly less so thanks to proximity to the lake.... Nevertheless, bone chilling especially for 41-42N latitude. Sorry too lazy to convert all this into Celsius.
Last edited by chicagogeorge; 11-03-2013 at 09:17 AM..
Weather Channel has a pretty accurate and detailed data base for historical daily weather records.
Is this your location?
Close enough. I like the data I can get on Weather Underground. I just wasn't sure how or where to select data by that attribute specifically (daily max temperature as opposed to average temperature).
2 F / -17 C on January 12, 1918. That's in Nashville, where I actually live it's probably -2 to 0 F / -19 to -18 C.
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