RECENT RECORD TEMPERATURES

In this posting I will attempt to update on ANY record high or record low temperatures in the US or elsewhere as I become aware of them. We welcome any reader of this blog to add a comment if they are aware of any new records. We will research them and post the results.

A footnote: As will be posted elsewhere in this blog there is a problem with all temperature measurements at older weather sites. Many of these were located many decades ago in or near an airport. Aviation and population have changed so much since then that there is a built in bias. A heat island effect kicks in as population grows. Worse yet, many of these were built on the edge of town. As population grows the site becomes surrounded by the city...and... a myriad of heat sources having nothing to do with the atmosphere, nor with CO2 caused Global Warming; also, a myriad of heat sources that did not exist in the early half of the Twentiesth Century.

03/10/09 Spokane, ID: A record low for the date was recorded a few minutes after sunrise. The record low was 5 degrees F. Spokane also recorded a record amount of snowfall for the winter season just ended.


01/16/09 Rochelle, IL: An Automated Weather Observing System (AWOS) was calibrated on January 15, 2009, since it appeared that a new record low temperature was possible, not only for Rochelle but also for the whole state of Illinois. Just before sunrise the temperature reached minus 36 degrees F. (Traditionaly the hour after sunrise is the coldest point of any day.) That equalled the all time low temperature for the entire state. However, the National Weather Service (NWS) refused to acknowledge the record. I can understand the need for consistency. If the NWS had historically only used recordings from the other two official weather sites in the state, there is an argument to be made that they should use only those sites for such comparisons. Otherwise it would be like comparing apples and oranges. The NWS took no issue with the accuracy of the measurement nor with the equipment used. However, it does raise two questions to me. (1) When the previous record was recorded in the Twentieth Century how cold was it in Rochelle? (2) Why no publicity that, in the midst of so called Global Warming Hysteria, such a cold air mass was moving through the area?

03/24/07 Idaho Falls, ID: A new record high temperature for the date was set at 68 degrees F.