Ticker for January 11, 2011

                
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January 11, 2011   January 11, 2011   January 11, 2011   January 11, 2011


That river in Egypt

I tried to ignore the cold weather by simply not acknowledging it. Out of sight,
out of mind. Then I had to go outside and my shadow froze to the sidewalk. Welcome
to reality.

Low temperatures as recorded by the Oklahoma Mesonet paint a frigid picture. The
lowest temperature in the state last night was -8 degrees recorded at Hooker, but
six other sites in the northwest also dipped below zero as well.



Temperatures have begun to rebound in the Panhandle and are amongst the highest
in the state. The snow-packed areas in northern Oklahoma also show up on the
Mesonet temperature map from 1:10 pm.



Minimum wind chills. Oklahoma Panhandle. WOW!



A few interesting notes about this morning's cold weather:

* the -8 degrees at Hooker doesn't touch their record low for the 11th, which
occurred back in 1918. That mark is safe (for now)at -20 degrees.
* -8 degrees is the lowest temperature recorded by the Oklahoma Mesonet since
the -9 degrees at Boise City on December 7, 2005.
* there have been 64 marks at -8 degrees or below recorded by the Mesonet. The
lowest is -19 degrees at Kenton, Nowata and Stillwater in February 1996.
* Of the 64, 46 occurred during the same period, February 3 and 4, 1996.
* -8 degrees is lower than any temperature recorded in the state by a COOP
station since -8 degrees was reported at Fort Supply on February 15, 2007.
* the -24 degrees windchill mark is the coldest as measured by the Mesonet
since -27 degrees was calculated at Kenton on December 8, 2005.
* the lowest wind chill according to the Mesonet was -32 degrees at Kenton on
February 3, 1996.
* the Mesonet has recorded 32 wind chills of -24 degrees or less since 1994.

So there you have it. It is cold. My only regret is that it's not December so
I could give a well-intentioned "BAH HUMBUG" to Mother Nature. How long 'til
summer??

Gary McManus
Associate State Climatologist
Oklahoma Climatological Survey
(405) 325-2253
gmcmanus@mesonet.org