Past IEM Features tagged: cold

List all tags


Downward Days

17 Feb 2015 05:45 AM
On Saturday, the hourly temperature at the Des Moines Airport was unchanged or got colder with each successive hour. This is a somewhat rare occurrence with the last such day like it back on 27 November 2011. The featured map provides an analysis of station frequency of having such an occurrence since 1973. Setting aside some local climate effects, the map shows the general pattern of having the highest counts over northern US. For this type of event to occur, the cold air advection must be very robust to overwhelm any bit of warming that may happen during the day with sunshine present.

Voting:
Good: 16
Bad: 5
Abstain: 5

Tags:   cold  

Another cold month

01 May 2014 05:40 AM
The featured chart presents the monthly average temperature departures from present day climatology for Ames. April was the seventh month in a row below average for Ames. Based on preliminary data, the past six months have seen temperatures at least 2 degrees colder than average making for the longest such streak for Ames on record. Previous longest was five months in 1947. The El-Nino 3.4 index value is overlain on the plot for comparison.

Voting:
Good: 15
Bad: 7
Abstain: 4

Tags:   cold  

Cold Stretches

13 Dec 2013 05:43 AM
Temperatures finally returned to reasonable levels on Thursday with some lucky locations in Iowa hitting 30 degrees! This was the warmest it has been in just over seven days. The featured chart looks at the longest period below a given temperature based on hourly temperature data for Des Moines, Sioux Falls, and St Louis. The north - south geography holds with Des Moines experiencing durations in between longer ones for Sioux Falls and shorter ones for St Louis. The current stretch of weather below 31 degrees has many days to go before besting the longest stretch of around 31 days. The forecast calls for warming to above freezing next week.

Voting:
Good: 60
Bad: 11
Abstain: 8

Tags:   winter   freezing   cold  

No repeat of this requested

21 Jan 2009 06:19 AM
The featured plot of recent high and low temperatures from Waterloo shows how last week's cold snap was exceptional as compared with the rest of the month and climatology. The forecast looks warmer for the rest of this work week before another cool down is expected for the weekend.

Voting:
Good: 19
Bad: 9

Tags:   cold  

3+ days below zero

19 Jan 2009 06:13 AM
The featured time series from the Esterville Airport shows a period of 87 hours were the temperature never exceeded 0 degree F. Thankfully temperatures have been near freezing these past few days allowing some melting to occur. We will have a few more chances to get above freezing this week before more winter storms are expected to return next week.

Voting:
Good: 20
Bad: 7

Tags:   cold   subzero  


View larger image
AWOS low temps on 16 Jan 2009

50-60 degree warm up gets us to just above freezing

16 Jan 2009 06:26 AM
Just another amazingly cold morning with low temperatures in the -40 to -20 degree range in Eastern Iowa. The featured plot of AWOS low temperatures shows a -38 in Monticello! Not shown, Waterloo tied its all-time record low temperature of -34. Temperatures are expected to warm up today and be near freezing this weekend, that is a 50 some degree warm up!

Voting:
Good: 47
Bad: 17

Tags:   cold   2009events  

Cold

15 Jan 2009 07:22 AM
A brutally cold air mass is currently entrenched over the Upper MidWest with low temperatures this morning in the minus teens and twenties across Iowa. The featured analysis shows negative numbers over much of the area. The big question today is if we will warm to above zero!

Voting:
Good: 28
Bad: 6

Tags:   cold   2009events  

Brutally Cold Sunday

22 Dec 2008 06:18 AM
The featured map is an analysis of minimum wind chill value on Sunday. Very cold air rushed into the state this past weekend thanks to strong northwest wind that gusted upwards of 40 miles per hour. A good portion of the state experienced wind chill values below -30°F. Winds have finally backed off some with slightly warmer weather expected before our next winter storm on Tuesday. Remember that today is only the 2nd day of winter!

Voting:
Good: 22
Bad: 8

Tags:   cold