The greatest temperature change in a 24-hour period ever measured in the U.S.—and perhaps the world—occurred at Loma, Montana, on January 14-15, 1972. NWS COOP observer Jim Wood measured a temperature of –54°F in his Stevenson Shelter at 9 am on the morning of January 14. By that evening a powerful chinook wind enveloped the area with downsloping winds blowing a sustained 30-40 mph.
In a paper entitled “A National Temperature Record at Loma, Montana”, Mr. Wood is quoted as follows:
“Shortly after midnight, I woke to the sound of a howling wind. I dressed and read the temperature and could not believe it read 34° above [zero]. The severe southwest wind continued and by 6:00 am the temperature was in the mid-40°s. By 8 am it had reached 49° and never raised higher the rest of the day.”
NOAA verified the observation with an investigation of the event undertaken in 2012 by its National Climate Extremes Committee (NCEC). Note that 88° of the temperature rise actually occurred in just a 15-hour period between 9 am and midnight on January 14. Another way to picture just how extreme this was: imagine the 103° spread (–54° to 49°) spanning the range from 0° to 103°, or 17° to 120°, in just a 24-hour period!
This chinook event occurred over a wide area in the leeside of the Rocky Mountains of western Montana. Great Falls, 40 miles southwest of Loma, observed a 62° temperature rise (from –29° to 33°) during the same time period. Havre, 50 miles northeast of Loma, saw its temperature rise 79° from –36° to 43°. Numerous COOP sites in the region saw temperatures rises of 80° or more, including a 92° rise at the hamlet of Iliad (–42° to 50°).
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| Figures 5 and 6. These 1972 daily weather maps for January 14, 1972 (top), and January 15 (bottom) illustrate the surface weather pattern that facilitated the occurrence of the strong chinook event that affected much of central Montana, resulting in the record-breaking 103° temperature rise in Loma. Image credit: NOAA/NWS Daily Weather Maps. |
Montana is no stranger to extreme temperature fluctuations. The state also holds the U.S. (and perhaps world) record for the greatest drop in temperature for a 24-hour period, when the temperature fell from 44° to –56° at Browning on January 23-24, 1916.
Here is the official NWS document on the event:
lomaOur weather this week will be mainly uneventful compared to this weekend. Temps will gradually rise as we go through the week with our next weather event coming Thursday which will mainly be a light mix.
We had 8 inches of snow between the synoptic event and lake effect bringing our today to 24 inches for the season. Last night’s low dropped to 2.3° which was our coldest thus far.
Instead of wishing your life away and waiting for Spring get outside and enjoy Winter people! Winter is the best!
Bill’s Blog post today says we are at the midpoint of winter. This makes me very happy.
Me too, because the second half of this winter will be very cold and snowy! Bring it!
But that’s exactly what you said would happen the first half of Winter. Swing and a miss on that one.
Not long now…..
https://days.to/until/spring
Sounds good to me!!
I love winter and I have gotten in a lot skiing and snowshoeing this year! Fantastic!
I like steaks and beer and I have eaten a lot of steaks and I have drank quite a few beers this year! Delicious!
More above normal temps on the way.. Were is the Polar V .. Our mild winter continues .. I love winter !!
Cross country skiing today and snowshoeing tomorrow! This is turning into a pretty good winter with tons of snow yet to come! Who knew?
For those who have completely forgotten what an actual snow storm is like, here’s a link to some good time lapse videos. Makes our 4 or 5 inches a day over a 2 day period seem pretty piddly.
https://www.yahoo.com/news/cars-buried-st-johns-during-182916356.html
I love winter and I have been partaking in outdoor winter sports for almost 2 straight months! Incredible!
Driving hundreds of miles doesn’t count LOL
22* degrees and light snow falling out at thee YARDofBRICKS NE of GR another perfect Winter day …. .INDY…
You know it! I just got back from a morning out on the cross country trails and the conditions could not be any better!
We’ve now gained 30 minutes of daylight since the winter solstice. In less than two weeks, we will gain another 30 minutes. And then another 30 minutes 11 days after that. Things are really accelerating into spring now!
Beautiful sunny morning. The sun makes it feel not as cold as it truly is.
BTW it looks like the official low at GRR was 11 here at my house it got down to +7 last night before the clouds moved in. At this time it is 24 here with some light snow falling.
Slim
This winter season continues to be warmer then average with the mean temperature at Grand Rapids for December being 33.2° (+4.0) and January’s mean is now at 31.9° (+7.4) with the rest of the month looking warmer than average. On the snow fall side January is now at 11.3″ and that is still below average for this date. Since December 1st GR snow fall is now at 25.6″ and for the season it is at 32.4″ all below where GR is on average thru this date.
Slim
It has been incredibly mild so far with almost two thirds of Winter in the books. Don’t understand how some call that hype when its the hard facts.
Here is another big temperature swing in the Black Hills
https://www.weather.gov/unr/1943-01-22
Slim
Nice little snow and now another quiet week with no major storms in sight per Wood. And a warm up coming! I love these short winters!
This winter will be mild for sure. Not sure where you get the idea that it will be “short” as it started in early November and we will not know for sure when it will end. It could be March or it could be April.
Slim
As I’ve stated before, it looks like this winter may very well end up being very mild, below average snow, and with very few periods with significant snow on the ground. If that doesn’t make a short winter, I’m not sure what does. Just because we got a storm in early November certainly does not dictate that it’s been a “long” winter by any means.
It is all a matter of perspective. It has been too cold for me since November and I would think that will stay that way until at least March. Come summer it will be too hot for you anytime it gets above what 75?
Slim
Lol …21* degrees out at thee YARDofBRICKS love it …..INDY
Somebody let mokkiee know his little snow event this weekend he said was coming we ended up with 11.4 inches of snow on the ground out at thee YARDofBRICKS NE of GR! We call this BIG DADDY SNOW STORM!!! Have a snowy winter Monday!!! INDY!!
Here are the latest snow fall totals for Northern Michigan
https://www.weather.gov/apx/snow
Slim
Agreed and that was a monster and just I predicted the warm weather fanatics put a spin on it! Incredible!
News Flash – currently we have 11 more inches of seasonal snowfall as compared to last year and last year we ended up with above normal snowfall! How is that possible with all of the warm weather hype? Get ready for a wild February and March!
And April…… DDDDDD….INDY
At this time there is no clear sign that February will be wild we shall see about March. If and that is a big IF there is one month that we should watch that would be March.
Slim
There are plenty of signs!!!! The cpc shows below normal temps and above normal snowfall and all of the telecommectors are trending towards more winter weather in a February, so yes plenty of signals and data!
Birds must be hungry this morning – I counted 10 morning doves and 6 cardinals plus the usual finches and other assorted bird at the feeders this morning.