John Belski's Weather Blog

One year anniversary of the Chicago blizzard

Today in Chicago the temperature reached the upper 50's.  So far this winter they have had about 14 inches of snow. One year ago today was the start of the Great Chicago Blizzard of 2011. The main part of the storm was on February 1. The snow total from that storm at O'Hare Airport was 21 inches with winds over 50 mph. Some areas picked up over 2 feet of snow. Chicago is used to snow but not when you get extreme wind.
This was the scene on Lake Shore Drive after the storm.
Hundreds of vehicles were stranded and many people had to be rescued during the storm.

It took days to clear the neighborhood streets of all the snow.

For a detailed summary of the storm.....click  HERE

Check out this video taken on the morning of February 2nd as the storm was beginning to wind down.
 

U.S.A. low temps for each day this month

Here are the low temperatures each day this month for the 48 contiguous states. On the right is the low for that date in January 2011.......

1)  -6        -17
2) -9        -26
3) -19      -33
4) -17      -26
5) -4        -16
6) -8       -22
7)   1        -21
8) -10     -26
9) -9       -29
10) -9      -29
11) -20    -34
12) -27    -29
13) -15    -14
14) -22    -10
15) -24    -17
16) -27    -35
17) -17    -29
18) -28    -26
19) -26    -26
20) -26    -22
21) -27    -46
22)-26    -38
23) -8     -39
24) -25    -36
25) -5     -23
26) 0       -17
27) -14      -6
28) -18      -6
29) -15      -8
30) -17    -16
31) -14    -33

Here are the Alaska lows for each day this year and last year during January......
1) -54        -33
2) -53        -27
3) -53       -25
4) -55       -20
5) -50       -10
6) -51        -11
7) -54       -22
8) -54      -23
9) -52      -25
10) -51     -20
11) -47     -30
12) -51     -37
13) -53     -42
14) -54     -44
15_ -58    -52
16) -56     -55
17) -54     -50
18) -52    -58
19) -45    -53
20) -49    -55
21) -51     -56
22) -42    -50
23) -55    -51
24) -62    -51
25) -54    -52
26) -59    -48
27) -62    -31
28) -63    -29
29) -60    -28
30) -60    -29
31) -59     -30  Alaska was much colder this year while the lower 48 states were warmer.

The shifting USDA planting zones look like 50 years ago

The USDA has come out with an updated planting zone map using the last 30 years of data.
The previous chart from 1990 used data from 1974 to 1986. The new zones have shifted north indicating a warmer climate.
However, if you look at the 1960 planting zones, it looks pretty close to the new one. Is there some sort of cycle here? If you believe in the 30 year weather warm to cold cycle, the next updated map in 20 years will shift south again.   Click on any map for a larger view.

New zones....Louisville is in the middle of zone 6. Far southwest Kentucky is clipped by the northern part of zone 7.




















1990 zones.....a colder look than the new map. Louisville was in the northern part of zone 6. Zone 7 was in southern Tennessee.
















1960 zone map......Louisville is in the southern part of zone 6. Southern Kentucky was in zone 7. This is even a warmer look than the new zone map.

Time and temp sign video

I just posted about the students at the U. of Alaska-Fairbanks posing in front of the time and temperature sign. Check out this time lapse video of people pulling over to have their picture taken when it is in the 40s below zero.
 

The 40 below club at the Univeristy of Alaska-Fairbanks

At the corner of College Road and University Avenue at the University of Alaska in Fairbanks, there is a large time and temperature sign.
When extreme cold develops, the students will show up so they can claim to be part of the 40 below club.
This group posed at the sign over the weekend.
We do not have a photo of a group that came later at night when the temperature was colder than -50. That was at 5:30 AM.

This was not a Polar Plunge. Just some folks having fun in the middle of one of the coldest winters in recent years in Alaska.

8:35 PM.... I just found this -50 degree photo.

In Louisville, the Polar Plunge into the Ohio River to benefit the Special Olympics in coming up on February 25 at the waterfront Tumbleweed restaurant.
For more info...... click  HERE

The Southern Indiana Polar Plunge will take place February 18 on the beach at Deam Lake.
For more info..... click  HERE

Springlike high temps today

Today's high in Louisville was 61 which is 17 degrees above normal.

Here are some state high temps for today......
KENTUCKY: 63
INDIANA: 61
ILLINOIS: 65
MISSOURI: 69
IOWA: 64
KANSAS: 70

By the way, the afternoon high was a jump of 32 degrees. An indication of some pretty dry air.

Fan tents evacuated at Super Bowl Plaza

Because of a safety factor due to high winds, some of the fan tents on the Super Bowl Plaza were evacuated for a while this afternoon.
There are about 80 tents of different sizes in the Plaza. Not all of the tents were closed.
The evacuated tents were between the Lucas Oil Stadium and the Convention Center.
All tents have reopened as the winds have died down.
The top wind speed at the WTHR-TV weather station located at the Stadium was 51 mph.
In Louisville, the top winds this afternoon were between 35 and 40 mph.

Fog & smoke causes a number of wrecks in Florida

Dense fog and smoke from a brush fire in Gainesville, Florida has resulted in a number of wrecks on interstate 75. The wrecks happened late last night. 10 people have died and 18 were injured. At least 12 cars and 7 semis were involved.

Here is an update from WESH-TV in Orlando......
 Smoke from brush fires caused a string of fatal crashes along Interstate 75 in southern Alachua County on Sunday.The Florida Highway Patrol said 10 people died and 18 others were injured. Most of the injured were taken to Shands Medical Center in Gainesville.
Authorities received the first call of trouble on I-75 at 3:45 a.m., about 6 miles southwest of Gainesville Regional Airport and north of Micanopy.Officials closed I-75 in both direction because they said they discovered several multi-vehicle crashes in both the northbound and southbound lanes.The highway remained closed throughout the day, leading to massive traffic jams that delayed motorists for hours. Traffic was detoured onto smaller roads that couldn't handle the large amount of traffic. Northbound traffic on I-75 was backed up all the way into Marion County.
FHP  said I-75 would remain closed as an investigation continues into the crashes and work to clear the debris. At least three vehicles caught fire in the crashes. .Troopers said both the north and southbound lanes of I-75 are shut down between mile markers 374 and 382. Authorities have detours marked for motorists to use.Because of the number of crashes, the number of damaged vehicles involved and other complications, I-75 is expected to remain closed for several hours.

 

Comparing this January with last year

If you include a forecast of 50s tomorrow and 60s on Tuesday.... this is what the month of January will end up as compared with last January and January of 2010.

January                     This year     Last year    2 years ago

Highs in the 10s        0 days         0 days          1 day

Highs in the 20s        1 day           6 days         10 days

Highs in the 30s      7 days          13 days         7 days

Highs in the 40s     7 days            9 days         8 days

Highs in the 50s   12 days            2 days         5 days

Highs in the 60s     4 days            1 day           0 days

Next is the number of days with at least 0.1" of snow and the number of days with at least a trace of snow.

January 2012    3 days with at least 0.1"   4 days with at least a trace

January 2011    7 days with at least 0.1"   12 days with at least a trace

January 2010   4 days with at least 0.1"   15 days with at least a trace

-51 at Fairbanks this morning

Fairbanks, Alaska had an overnight low of -51 degrees. The all-time record low for Fairbanks is -66.
Supposedly at 65 below you can spit and it will freeze before it hits the ground.
Warmer weather is on the way with temps expected to get above zero by the end of the week. The last time Fairbanks had a temperature above zero was January 12.