Ticker for January 11, 2010

                
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January 11, 2010   January 11, 2010   January 11, 2010   January 11, 2010


Cold Hard Facts ... And Data

Celebrate and rejoice, the Deep Freeze of January 2010 appears over for now. The
Oklahoma Mesonet shows temperatures rebounding into "normal" category once again
(normal temperatures for January 10th are 50-ish). So with the good news out of
the way, let's look at the cold snap of the past week or so and put it in
perspective.

Looking at average temperatures from each 7-day period since the inception of
the Mesonet, the current cold streak has gotten a couple of entries into the
top-10. The results below are the statewide average temperatures for the 7-day
period ENDING on the date listed:


2/5/1996        17.4
2/4/1996	17.5
2/6/1996	20.0
1/16/1997	20.7
1/17/1997	20.9
1/10/2010	21.1
1/9/2010	21.3
2/3/1996	22.0
1/14/1997	22.1
1/15/1997	22.4

Just at a glance, it would appear this outbreak falls below the February 1996
event, but ranks up there with the January 1997 event. In relation, comparing
the 2010 event to historical COOP cold outbreaks, the January 10 value of 21.1
degrees would be tied for 112th!

The 2010 event even managed to get a top-10 entry into the coldest day category:

2/3/1996	7.5
2/4/1996	12.6
1/12/1997	13.0
1/8/2010	13.7
2/24/2003	14.3
12/22/1998	14.4
2/2/1996	14.5
12/8/2005	14.7
1/11/1997	15.1
1/31/1996	15.2

So again, on a daily scale, January 8 was right up there with some of the
coldest days in the history of the Mesonet, but still not up to the February
1996 event. Again, compared to cold days from the COOP network, The January 8
value would be tied for 77th.

So in other words, the current event was cold, both in the short- and long-term.
Like you needed me to tell you that!

Gary McManus
Associate State Climatologist
Oklahoma Climatological Survey
(405) 325-2253