Ticker for December 9, 2005

                
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December 9, 2005   December 9, 2005   December 9, 2005   December 9, 2005



Another Record-Setting Morning, and Some Climatological Dirty Laundry

Oklahoma Mesonet observations from this morning suggest that 43 of
Oklahoma's 77 counties saw their coldest Dec 9th observation in
their respective histories.  A complete list follows this Ticker.

A few factors go into a making record low. The most obvious of these
are meteorological factors, such as cold air (duh), calm winds, clear
skies, and snow cover. The other factor is a dark and seldom-aired
secret buried deep within the collective and haunted psyche of the
world's climatologists. But we'll get to that in a minute.

First, let's look at the "meteorological" factors. Check out the lows
on this map:



Those below-zero observations in northeast Oklahoma fit quite nicely
over a thin blanket of snow cover, as seen in this satellite image:



The black splotch north of Tulsa is shaped suspiciously like Lake
Oologah. That's a great way to distinguish snow cover from cloud cover
in visible imagery: lakes and rivers get covered up by clouds, but
not by snow (for example, look at the rivers etched in the snow cover
on Iowa and Nebraska).

The snow cover also lined up well with the very calm high pressure
center associated with this frigid air mass:

 (from HPC)

Collectively, these factors helped temps drop lower in the eastern half
of the state than the less snowy, windier west.

Now, for the other factor in breaking records. A warning: if your faith
in institutions is easily shaken, stop reading now.

For every giver, there's a taker. For every yin, there's a yang.
For every World Series champion, there is a Chicago Cub. And for every
record-setting event, there was the record that was broken. We often
jump up and down and celebrate/gripe when today's weather breaks
The Record, but we give little thought to the amount or quality of
the data that went into The Record.

And the truth is, in some places, the data that supports the existing
record is pretty sparse.

Take a look at the following list and focus on the "existing low".
How could Coal County have an existing record of 13 F, while
neighboring Pittsburg and Pontotoc Counties held records of 4 F
and 1 F, respectively? Is Coal County innately 10 degrees warmer than
its neighbors? Did the last record-setting cold blast take a detour
around Coal County?

Well, the truth is, in 1917, when Ada and McAlester set their records,
there was no functional weather station in Coal County. And this
scenario is repeated in many, many places around the country.  Some
places go for years between functioning weather stations, and many more
observation stations have disappeared permanently.

Examining the integrity of a climate record is one of the chief unseen
duties of the climate community, and it's an ugly sight at times.
There are very few individual stations that carry a long, continuous
climate record, and even those that do are often plagued by other
problems (to wit: the Murray County record set at Platt National Park,
which stopped existing a long time ago. There is now a "new" station
at the same site with the moniker "Chickasaw National Recreation Area").

These situations highlight the precious value of those few high-quality
observation stations with a lengthy (and complete!) record.

Anyway, enough of that. Enjoy (?) the record-setting cold.


This Morning's          Existing County
County     Mesonet Low             Record Low
---------  ----------------------- -------------------------------------
Adair       2  Westville            6  Stillwell (1995), Watts (1937)
Bryan       6  Durant              10  Durant (1978)
Carter      5  Ardmore              8  Healdton (1917)
Cherokee   -2  Tahlequah            0  Tahlequah (1917)
Choctaw     9  Hugo                12  Hugo (1977)
Coal        2  Centrahoma          13  Lehigh (1898)
Cotton      5  Walters             12  Walters (1927)
Craig      -7  Vinita (tie)        -7  Vinita (1917)
Creek      -3  Bristow              7  Bristow (1919)
Delaware    0  Jay                  3  Grove (1937)
Garvin      4  Pauls Valley (tie)   4  Pauls Valley (1917)
Grady       0  Chickasha            4  Chickasha 1917
Haskell    -1  Stigler              6  Lake Eufaula (1995)
Hughes      0  Calvin              10  Holdenville (1917)
Jefferson   6  Ringling, Waurika    9  Waurika (1919)
Johnston    3  Tishomingo          10  Tishomingo Wildlife Refuge (1917)
Latimer     2  Wilburton           11  Wilburton (1995)
Leflore     1  Wister              10  Poteau (1927)
Lincoln    -1  Chandler             4  Meeker (1919)
Logan       6  Marshall             7  Guthrie (1909)
Love        1  Burneyville         14  Marietta (1977)
Major       5  Fairview            11  Ames (1898)
Marshall    3  Madill              13  Madill (1995)
Mayes      -4  Pryor                8  Spavinaw (1955)
Mcclain     4  Washington           9  Purcell (1950)
Mcintosh    4  Eufaula (tie)        4  Eufaula (1919)
Murray      1  Sulphur              8  Platt National Park (1919)
Muskogee   -2  Haskell (tie)       -2  Muskogee (1917)
Noble       2  Red Rock             3  Perry (1919)
Nowata     -5  Nowata               5  Nowata (1995)
Okfuskee   -1  Okemah               1  Okemah (1917)
Oklahoma    9  Spencer (tie)        9  Lake Overholser (1978)
Okmulgee   -3  Okmulgee             5  Okmulgee Water Works (1919)
Osage      -4  Wynona              -1  Pawhuska (1917)
Payne      -1  Stillwater           2  Stillwater (1909)
Pittsburg   1  McAlester            4  McAlester (1917)
Pontotoc    0  Vanoss               1  Ada (1917)
Pushmataha  3  Antlers             12  Tuskahoma (1995)
Rogers     -4  Inola                0  Claremore (1917)
Seminole   -1  Bowlegs             11  Seminole (1977)
Stephens    4  Ketchum Ranch        9  Marlow (1919)
Tulsa      -4  Bixby                7  Bixby (1977)
Wagoner     1  Porter               5  Wagoner (1917)