Remembering 1/5/2014, "The Polar Vortex"

[Chinook]

The recent storm on Wednesday reminded me of this event in terms of low pressure placement In other ways, the Dec 23-24 2022 was a lot more like 1/5/2014 in terms of true cold dumpage. As a general meteorological term, the polar vortex normally is in one or multiple 500mb lows in the far north, and contains the lowest 500mb heights and temperatures, and is also linked to the lowest 850mb temperatures of the Northern Hemisphere. Sometimes a distinguishable 500mb vortex can travel to mid Canada or lower Canada and dump the cold into the USA. In the case of 1/4/2014 to 1/8/2014, a very cold air mass, essentially a cut off polar vortex, converted its (maybe) -40C air at 500mb into a snowstorm and a dangerous wind chill scenario for the US and lower Canada. Some heavy snow came through Toledo, and I wasn't there for it, of course. But hey, I still have at least one picture from my parents. Pretty much everybody on this discussion board felt low wind chills on those days. As you can see from the observations, the low pressure went just south of Toledo.Thhere was 12.5" measured in NW Ohio, with winds of 15kt to 20kt in NW Ohio and northern Indiana. There were -40F to -46F wind chills at Toledo on the January 6th-7th. I believe there was a near record-breaking -30C temperatures at 850mb measured at Detroit DTX while there was decent wind.  Some areas of the Midwest had -59F wind chills according to one of the maps below.

 

my 500mb loop

http://www.greatlakes.salsite.com/Jan_5_2014_storm_loop.html

forecast:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

232 Kelvin is -41 celsius

[DaveNay]

[Chicago WX]

One of the most impactful winter storms to ever hit the state of Indiana. About 2/3 of the state received at least 10" of snowfall. Strong winds and the plummeting temps made travel nearly impossible. December was solid, but this event really seemed to kick off what would become one of the coldest and snowiest winters on record in the Midwest. Great times. 

[Chambana]

^ exactly what he said. The precursor to that winter was 11/17/13, the first week of December had a 6-10” snowfall, then the Polar Vortex blizzard, followed with weeks of extremely cold temps and multiple snowfalls. January was one for the record books, on the heels of January came a frigid February, that gave me Thundersnow. 
 

man, the winter of 2013-2014 was legendary. 

[Chicago WX]

Yeah, this thread made me go back and look at my photos from that winter. Here's one my mom took on February 17 in IKK. There's a large bush under that lamp post. That winter finished it off, BTW. Crazy snow, epic winter scene.

 

[RogueWaves]

Arctic air on the move always makes for dynamic memorable outcomes. I was fortunate to be in the jackzone of both the PV bliz and this week's storm. Aside from similar tracks, this storm was pedestrian in comparison to 2014.

[michsnowfreak]

I'm like a grandparent talking about their grandkids when it comes to the Winter of 2013-14. I just can't get enough of it. The polar vortex storm was awesome and the temperature drop behind it was something I've never seen. Digging out in -50ﾟ wind chills was quite an experience. And to think that that was only the beginning of a historic winter!

 

The sunset pic was taken right after the polar vortex storm ended. The rest of the pics are from February.

 

 

 

[Hoosier]

2 hours ago, Chicago WX said:

One of the most impactful winter storms to ever hit the state of Indiana. About 2/3 of the state received at least 10" of snowfall. Strong winds and the plummeting temps made travel nearly impossible. December was solid, but this event really seemed to kick off what would become one of the coldest and snowiest winters on record in the Midwest. Great times. 

This really is a true statement.  The peak snow amounts weren't extraordinarily impressive, but the coverage of the 10"+ amounts in Indiana was even a bit more widespread than the '99 storm.  And the aftermath with the intense cold and prolonged period of bad road conditions is something I'll always remember.  If we're grouping all-time winter storms for Indiana, it's a solid 1b tier storm with the main knock against it being a lack of high end amounts (say 18"+)

[Chinook]

The bigger storms for Toledo that year

 

 

[SolidIcewx]

I was about to graduate when that happened. I will remember for the bad roads and the fact of how it got down to -17 imby at the time. And in September we had upper 90s and temps where I lived and was quite warm and had some record highs then 4 months later to record cold. That winter I was running out of room in my driveway to shovel snow had mounds over 6’ high. And top it off with it being below 0 in March on my bday was something else. Even that summer was cooler than normal if I remember correctly 

[sbnwx85]

I was working in Central IL at the time. It was a solid storm with 10" of snow in Jacksonville/Springfield, but I was jealous of the wind and monster totals my family was getting back home in Indiana. I think a Blizzard Warning went into effect for a while for IWX. 

[Frog Town]

13 minutes ago, SolidIcewx said:

I was about to graduate when that happened. I will remember for the bad roads and the fact of how it got down to -17 imby at the time. And in September we had upper 90s and temps where I lived and was quite warm and had some record highs then 4 months later to record cold. That winter I was running out of room in my driveway to shovel snow had mounds over 6’ high. And top it off with it being below 0 in March on my bday was something else. Even that summer was cooler than normal if I remember correctly 

The Summer in between, Summer of 2014, was like a Fall season.  Your memory serves you correctly.  Cold than normal Lakes perhaps..

[Harry]

Loved the 18 I got. Hated the next day because I had shoveld the night before as the snow was letting up only to find the bitter cold winds undid it all. Only time since I have moved here they told people here they were not allowed to drive on the streets. 

[dmc76]

15.5"-16.0" 

[Chinook]

new loop

http://www.greatlakes.salsite.com/Jan_5_2014_SfcRadar_loop.html

[SolidIcewx]

I remember shoveling/snow blowing multiple times due to the wind blowing it back. Me and my brother also had to go out the morning after and our family car was fully covered in a drift and the truck more then half way. The persistent cold was impressive and also trying to do the boiling water trick was fun to do. Thing is it will happen again at some point in the future and we all will be here tracking it