Rank Your Top Five Arctic Outbreaks

[TheTrials]

1) January 2004. I was up in Vermont for this outbreak, saw -30 on the thermometer.

2) January 1994. The school buses actually couldn't start as the diesel fuel turned to mush. Also one of the best overall winters for duration.

3) January 1996. This winter had everything, and I gave it a little bump in the ranking because it was such a great winter.

4) January 2003. Right before martin luther king day.

5) December 1989. Waste of a cold pattern, but a nice deep freeze.

[ag3]

Not too good with arctic outbreaks, but my memory of 93-94 was that it was a frigid winter with constant cold.

[A-L-E-X]

1) January 2004. I was up in Vermont for this outbreak, saw -30 on the thermometer.

2) January 1994. The school buses actually couldn't start as the diesel fuel turned to mush. Also one of the best overall winters for duration.

3) January 1996. This winter had everything, and I gave it a little bump in the ranking because it was such a great weekend.

4) January 2003. Right before martin luther king day.

5) December 1989. Waste of a cold pattern, but a nice deep freeze.

My requirement for arctic outbreaks is similar to that for heat waves-- it has to be 100 or above at least once to be a historic heat wave and it has to be below zero at least once to be a historic arctic outbreak.

1) January 1985 (because the high was only 7 it gets top billing.)

2) January 1994

3) December 1980 (a low of -1 on Xmas morning, only time I've ever seen a negative temp before New Years.)

If I actually had any memory of it, I would probably have put January 1977 as #1

[bluewave]

Number 1 on my list is 12/27/76 to 2/7/77 for the duration of the cold resulting in the greatest build up of ice on our local waterways

that I have ever seen.

2) We recorded our coldest week since 1970 within the 2/9/79 to 2/19/79 arctic outbreak.

3) NYC saw its last below zero reading during January 1994.

4) The coldest Christmas that I have experienced began the 12/25/80 to 1/18/81 cold wave.

5) The brief but intense arctic outbreak around 1/21/85 produced an amazing display of arctic sea smoke on the ocean here.

[Brian5671]

too young to remember the 70's clearly, so I'll go with the various Jan 94 outbreaks, following by 1/21/85 that canceled the Reagan Inaugural Parade ,and coming in 3rd was one in March 2006 (?) where it dropped from 55 to the teens in hours and light rain changed to snow, flash freezing everything....

[Sundog]

I remember being on the school bus waiting for some kid to get on in January 94 and someone came out of a store to pour a bucket of water down toward the drain. The water never made it.

I was in the Catskills during the January 2004 outbreak. Woke up that morning after the Arctic front rolled through and it was -18 degrees. Earlier that night we had to sign disclaimers to use the outside jacuzzi because it's hotel policy when temps are below zero. The steam from the water was rising and freezing instantly on the railings, creating an interesting exit when it was time to go.

[MJO812]

The lowest temperature that I ever remember being outside in was 0 degrees.

[uncle W]

The first below zero day of my life was -2 on 2/2/1961...10" of snowcover helped a bit...18" of snow two days later makes this #1...

2/8/1963...Brief cold wave...Temperatures drop from 25 at midnight to -2 around 9am...Temperatures stayed around 10 most of the daylight hours...Temperatures moderated the next day...no snow cover...

-1 1/9/1968...part of a five day cold wave with minimums below 10... 3" of snow on the ground...

-1 1/23/1976...1" of snow on the ground...

-2 1/17/1977...5" of snow on the ground...

0 2/18/1979...5" of snow on the ground...13" more on the 19th...2nd favorite...

0 1/17-18/1982...6" of snow on the ground...

-2 1/21/1985...3" of snow on the ground...

-2 1/19/1994...5" of snow on the ground...

A weeks worth of cold...

1961 1/20-26

1979 2/12-18

2005 1/18-24

1977 1/12-18

1968 1/6-12

[Allsnow]

too young to remember the 70's clearly, so I'll go with the various Jan 94 outbreaks, following by 1/21/85 that canceled the Reagan Inaugural Parade ,and coming in 3rd was one in March 2006 (?) where it dropped from 55 to the teens in hours and light rain changed to snow, flash freezing everything....

that was 05, and it was def a intense drop and shot of artic air. My favorites jan 04 and the start of febuary 07.

[Dan76]

Number 1 on my list is 12/27/76 to 2/7/77 for the duration of the cold resulting in the greatest build up of ice on our local waterways

that I have ever seen.

+1....Thats the one for me,the whole s shore was frozen solid

[Diego]

The lowest windchills that I've ever experenced in the New York area (though not the lowest temps.), was on Dec. 30-31, 1962. I remember sustained winds of 40 to 50mph with higher gusts with temps. holding around 3F at Central Park from late in the afternoon on the 30th into the morning hours of the 31st. This was the result of a sharp pressure gradient between an intense low pressure area just south of central Maine, and higher pressure to the west. This intense low pressure system resulted in historical blizzard conditions over Maine and portions of the Canadian Maritimes, and the windchills were only rivaled by those that I encountered on Jan. 21, 1985.

Untitled.pdf

[KEITH L.I]

Dec 76-Feb 77..brutal cold..fronts just kept dropping from the lakes..very dry though

Dec 24th 1980-super arctic front come thru Christmas eve..34 degrees at 6pm with snow showers by 5am -1..winds howling all night

Dec 24th 1983-hard to believe the same senario happened on the same day 3 years later..light snow on Christmas eve morning lead to a bitter cold Christmas

Jan 20th 1985-was in Scranton PA..that weekend..the coldest air I ever experienced..15 below

[tamarack]

The lowest windchills that I've ever experenced in the New York area (though not the lowest temps.), was on Dec. 30-31, 1962. I remember sustained winds of 40 to 50mph with higher gusts with temps. holding around 3F at Central Park from late in the afternoon on the 30th into the morning hours of the 31st. This was the result of a sharp pressure gradient between an intense low pressure area just south of central Maine, and higher pressure to the west. This intense low pressure system resulted in historical blizzard conditions over Maine and portions of the Canadian Maritimes, and the windchills were only rivaled by those that I encountered on Jan. 21, 1985.

Thanks for the link! That event was perhaps the strongest winds I've experienced, challenged only by the 1950 Apps gale (when I was only 4 yr old, so memory is suspect.) Temp at my place on 12/31/1962 was 5/-8, coldest mean for any day I measured there (1961-71, limited sample time), and KNYC recorded its fastest ever December winds. On the 30th the winds were similar, temps in NYC teens rather than singles, but the Giants and Packers were trying to play for the NFL title at Yankee Stadium. Folks who attended both games have said the windchill in '62 rivaled the '67 "Ice Bowl" at Lambeau Field, though it was 25-30F colder in Green Bay.

My top 5, all from Ft. Kent or NNJ:

1. 12/19/80-1/5/81: Had lows to -42 on 12/21, moderate snow at -25 on 1/4, temps were -20/-34 for that day. HUL was -16/-41 for the coldest non-MWN mean I've seen for a New England station; AM low less cold in Ft. Kent because the wind never quit.) Aft high on 12/25 was -16, with winds gusting into the 40s.

2. 2/11-18/79: Eight cons days when the temp never got above -2. Low for the period was a modest (for Ft. Kent) -22. Wind blew constantly, most days 20-30 but on 16th and 18th gusted well into the 40s. Longest subzero span I've experienced.

3. 1/19-2/4/61 in NNJ: Most days had highs in teens and lows zero or below, -14 on 2/2. The streak began with a 20" storm and ended with a 24" dump, with another 6" or so in smaller events between.

4. 1/8-12/68 in NNJ: Five days with lows 2,-1,3,3,2 (Unc W1 showed these in the multiple coldsnap thread) and highs 13,14,17,16,22. In NNJ the high on 1/8 was 5, the low on 1/9 was -11.

5. 1/9-13/76: Welcome to Ft. Kent! (We'd moved there on New Years Day.) The 5 days' temps were -4/-33; 0/-24; -4/-36; -6/41; 3/-37. On the coldest day I was driving my '69 Nova thru town when the supercooled speedometer cable went nuts and the needle buried itself to the right of 120 mph, accompanied by intense screeching. (I was going about 20.)

[Diego]

Thanks for the link! That event was perhaps the strongest winds I've experienced, challenged only by the 1950 Apps gale (when I was only 4 yr old, so memory is suspect.) Temp at my place on 12/31/1962 was 5/-8, coldest mean for any day I measured there (1961-71, limited sample time), and KNYC recorded its fastest ever December winds. On the 30th the winds were similar, temps in NYC teens rather than singles, but the Giants and Packers were trying to play for the NFL title at Yankee Stadium. Folks who attended both games have said the windchill in '62 rivaled the '67 "Ice Bowl" at Lambeau Field, though it was 25-30F colder in Green Bay.

My top 5, all from Ft. Kent or NNJ:

1. 12/19/80-1/5/81: Had lows to -42 on 12/21, moderate snow at -25 on 1/4, temps were -20/-34 for that day. HUL was -16/-41 for the coldest non-MWN mean I've seen for a New England station; AM low less cold in Ft. Kent because the wind never quit.) Aft high on 12/25 was -16, with winds gusting into the 40s.

2. 2/11-18/79: Eight cons days when the temp never got above -2. Low for the period was a modest (for Ft. Kent) -22. Wind blew constantly, most days 20-30 but on 16th and 18th gusted well into the 40s. Longest subzero span I've experienced.

3. 1/19-2/4/61 in NNJ: Most days had highs in teens and lows zero or below, -14 on 2/2. The streak began with a 20" storm and ended with a 24" dump, with another 6" or so in smaller events between.

4. 1/8-12/68 in NNJ: Five days with lows 2,-1,3,3,2 (Unc W1 showed these in the multiple coldsnap thread) and highs 13,14,17,16,22. In NNJ the high on 1/8 was 5, the low on 1/9 was -11.

5. 1/9-13/76: Welcome to Ft. Kent! (We'd moved there on New Years Day.) The 5 days' temps were -4/-33; 0/-24; -4/-36; -6/41; 3/-37. On the coldest day I was driving my '69 Nova thru town when the supercooled speedometer cable went nuts and the needle buried itself to the right of 120 mph, accompanied by intense screeching. (I was going about 20.)

Sorry about that error on the 30th (I was 11 years old at that time), but the temps. definitely fell to 3F during the afternoon of the 31st and stayed at that level for the rest of that day along with the high winds.

[ORH_wxman]

January 2004 here without a doubt. Its the coldest 3 day period on record here going back to the late 1800s. Obviously I'm not in NYC area, but that outbreak was absolutely brutal.

[tamarack]

Sorry about that error on the 30th (I was 11 years old at that time), but the temps. definitely fell to 3F during the afternoon of the 31st and stayed at that level for the rest of that day along with the high winds.

Official KNYC was 35/5 on the 30th and 13/4 on the 31st, though nearby areas were colder. That 35 was at 12:01 AM and was long gone by daybreak, with the temp falling into the singles by late aft. (I seem to remember 18F at 1 PM when the football game started, probably falling 2-3F/hr during the game.) Forecast low was for zero or slightly below, but the temp bottomed out during the wee hours and was up(?) to 6F at dawn, then rose grudgingly by one degree each hour to the high. 1/1/63 was cold but less so at 24/10, with strong winds but nothing like the two previous days, as the LP was weakening by then.

In the woods near our house there were numerous windthrown trees, all bare-limbed hardwoods and including some large white oaks, one of the deepest-rooted species. Nov. 1950 is the only other storm in my memory that caused serious windthrow in leaf-off hardwoods, and that earlier event came with rain and unfrozen ground. We had only 2" snow OG for the 12/62 gales and the whole month had averaged quite cold (4.5F below the norm), so the frost was probably a foot or so deep. The nearby reservior had 10-12" ice, much thicker than the usual 3-6" by New Year's Eve, and those winds shifted the whole layer 20-30' downwind, piling broken ice against the lee shore. Must've been close to peeling the whole pond, which would've been surprising to the two idiots out there midday on 12/31 jigging for yellow perch. (NJ traps/tip-ups season always began on 1/1.)

[Allsnow]

January 2004 here without a doubt. Its the coldest 3 day period on record here going back to the late 1800s. Obviously I'm not in NYC area, but that outbreak was absolutely brutal.

Yep. That month was so dam cold. We had a nice clipper event that month. Ratios where like 30 to 1. It was snowing in the mid-single digits all night. One of my favorite winter events.