Ticker for February 3, 2011

                
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February 3, 2011   February 3, 2011   February 3, 2011   February 3, 2011


Lowest temperature in the history of the Mesonet reached last night

A very catchy title, no? For those of us that peer at weather data until wee hours
of the morning, we caught a sneaky attempt by the Kenton Mesonet site to hide a
degree or two. If you wake up this morning and check out the low temperature maps
for the Mesonet, you'll see A LOT of frigid readings, punctuated by a teeth-
rattling -18 degrees at Kenton, the result of light winds, snowpack and
radiational cooling



Here are the top-15 coolest locations this morning:

1 -  Kenton 	                -18
2 -  Oilton 	                -16
3 -  Nowata 	                -16
4 -  Boise City 	        -15
5 -  Miami 	                -14
6 -  Vinita 	                -10
7 -  Jay 	                 -9
8 -  Lake Carl Blackwell 	 -9
9 -  Copan 	                 -8
10 - Goodwell 	                 -8
11 - Marshall 	                 -8
12 - Pryor 	                 -8
13 - Stillwater 	         -7
14 - Red Rock 	                 -7
15 - Blackwell 	                 -7

But here's where Kenton tried to get sneaky on us. From 11:00-11:20 p.m. last
night, Kenton dropped to an even more impressive -19 degrees. It's true! I have
the picture right here to prove it:



Now I could go on and on about how that reading ranks historically ... so I
will. And I'm concentrating on Kenton here, but keep in mind those sites in
the northeast that got down to -16 and thereabouts had incredibly impressive
stats themselves. It's just their bad luck the second-greatest place in Oklahoma,
Kenton, in the greatest region of the state, the Panhandle, stole their frozen
thunder (read it again, you're not crazy ... I really said what you think I
said).

Last night's -19 degrees at Kenton is the coldest reading ever recorded by the
Oklahoma Mesonet, topping the -15 degrees on December 8, 2005, at Kenton. No
other reading from the Mesonet has even come close to that since 1997. The next
two readings on the Mesonet list are -11 and -12 at Goodwell on December 23 and
24, 2004, respectively.

Now if we broaden our horizons (and observing platforms) and include the NWS'
COOP readings, we find that -19-degree reading from Kenton is tied with 22
others for number 63 on the all-time lowest temperatures ever recorded in
Oklahoma.  Vinita (2/13/1905) and Watts (1/18/1930) still hold the top spot
with -27 degrees. It's also the lowest temperature recorded in the state since
Kenton and Vinita reached -19 degrees on February 4, 1996. Lower temperatures
have been recorded only seven times in the last 50 years, all coming on January
18-19, 1984.

GATE	        1/19/1984	-25
KENTON	        1/18/1984	-22
HOOKER	        1/19/1984	-21
SPAVINAW	1/19/1984	-21
CLAREMORE  	1/19/1984	-20
PRYOR	        1/19/1984	-20
TURPIN 4 SSE	1/19/1984	-20

Well, that's a lot about a little. This cold is indeed historical, especially
in the reference frame of the last half-century or so. No encouragement
forthcoming from these parts, other than spring is coming. Temperatures will
continue to be suppressed while this snowpack remains, so expect to stay on the
cool side for quite some time.

*Special note: below you will see a -19 degrees listed as the record minimum for
"February 3 in Mesonet History." Unfortunately, that reading is no longer valid
(as will be explained in an upcoming Ticker). The -19 degrees under "February 3
in Oklahoma History" is a NWS COOP reading and is valid.

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