{"id":1784,"date":"2009-01-13T15:13:44","date_gmt":"2009-01-13T15:13:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/cimss.ssec.wisc.edu\/satellite-blog\/?p=1784"},"modified":"2016-08-21T17:45:45","modified_gmt":"2016-08-21T17:45:45","slug":"the-first-40%c2%ba-f-or-colder-temperatures-of-the-season","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cimss.ssec.wisc.edu\/satellite-blog\/archives\/1784","title":{"rendered":"The first -40\u00ba F or colder temperatures of the season (in the Lower 48 States)"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"GOES-12<\/a>

GOES-12 10.7 \u00b5m IR images<\/p><\/div>\n

A strong “Alberta Clipper” system ushered in some of the coldest air of the 2008\/2009 winter season on 12 January 2009<\/a><\/strong> — in fact, it was so cold that AWIPS images of the GOES-12 10.7 \u00b5m IR channel data (above)<\/em><\/strong> showed that surface<\/em> brightness temperatures as cold as -20\u00ba to -40\u00ba C (cyan to green color enhancement)<\/em> were surging southward from south-central Canada into the north-central US in the wake of the clipper.<\/p>\n

A closer view using GOES-12 IR imagery with a different color enhancement (below)<\/em><\/strong> displayed a large area of surface IR brightness temperatures colder than -40\u00ba C (violet colors)<\/em> across much of eastern North Dakota and northwestern Minnesota during the pre-dawn hours of 13 January<\/a><\/strong>. The coldest GOES-12 IR brightness temperature values seen were -47\u00ba C (-53\u00ba F)<\/strong> at 13 UTC (7 AM local time)<\/em> just to the north of Waskish (station identifier KVWU)<\/em> in northeastern Minnesota.<\/p>\n

\"GOES-12<\/a>

GOES-12 10.7 \u00b5m IR images<\/p><\/div>\n

The 1-km resolution MODIS 11.0 \u00b5m IR image at 08:57 UTC (3:57 AM local time)<\/em> on 13 January<\/a><\/strong> (below)<\/em><\/strong> showed similar values of cold IR brightness temperatures, with a minimum of -48\u00ba C (-54\u00ba F)<\/strong>. The coldest surface air temperature reported that morning was -42\u00ba C (-44\u00ba F)<\/strong> by the Cooperative Observer at Embarrass in northeastern Minnesota, with lows of -41\u00ba C (-42\u00ba F)<\/strong> at Babbit, Bigfork, Effie, and International Falls. Prior to this date, the coldest temperature recorded in the Lower 48 states this 2008\/2009 winter season was -39\u00ba C (-38\u00ba F) at Simpson, Montana on 21 December 2008.<\/p>\n

\"MODIS<\/a>

MODIS 11.0 \u00b5m IR image<\/p><\/div>\n

— 15 January Update —<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

\"GOES-12<\/a>

GOES-12 10.7 \u00b5m IR images<\/p><\/div>\n

The coldest temperature recorded in the Lower 48 states during this particular cold outbreak was -44\u00ba C (-48\u00ba F)<\/strong> at Babbitt in northern Minnesota on 14 January<\/a><\/strong>. On the morning of 15 January<\/a><\/strong>, the core of the coldest air in the north-central US was found farther to the west, from central North Dakota into northeastern South Dakota: Garrison, North Dakota had a minimum temperature of -44\u00ba C (-47\u00ba F)<\/strong>, Bismarck, North Dakota dropped to -42\u00ba C (-44\u00ba F)<\/strong> (only 1 degree F shy of their all-time record low),<\/em> and Aberdeen, South Dakota recorded a low of -41\u00ba C (-42\u00ba F)<\/strong> (which was only 4 degrees F shy of their all-time record low)<\/em>. However, GOES-12 10.7 \u00b5m IR images (above)<\/em><\/strong> displayed surface IR brightness temperatures as cold as -47\u00ba C (-53\u00ba F) in North Dakota.<\/p>\n

A comparison of 1-km resolution MODIS and 4-km resolution GOES-12 surface IR brightness temperatures at around 08:45 UTC or 3:45 AM local time (below)<\/em><\/strong> displayed very similar minimum<\/em> values of -48\u00ba C (-54\u00ba F) and -47\u00ba C (-53\u00ba F), respectively.<\/p>\n

\"MODIS<\/a>

MODIS 11.0 \u00b5m IR + GOES-12 10.7 \u00b5m IR images<\/p><\/div>\n

With such a cold and dry air mass in place over the north, the GOES-12 6.5 \u00b5m “water vapor channel” imagery (below)<\/em><\/strong> was able to display a signature of the large surface<\/em> temperature contrast between the relatively warm waters of the Great Lakes and the St. Lawrence River and the surrounding colder land surfaces. GOES-12 water vapor weighting functions<\/a><\/strong> calculated using the Detroit MI rawinsonde data indicated that many of the GOES imager and sounder water vapor channels were peaking at unusually-low altitudes.<\/p>\n

\"GOES-12<\/a>

GOES-12 6.5 \u00b5m water vapor images<\/p><\/div>\n

MODIS true color imagery<\/a><\/strong> showed that ice formation was rapidly increasing over far western and southern Lake Michigan with the presence of the cold air over the Great Lakes region.<\/p>\n

— 16 January Update —<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

The cold air continued to move eastward, and on the morning of 16 January<\/a><\/strong> had settled over the northeastern US.<\/p>\n

PUBLIC INFORMATION STATEMENT
\nNATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE CARIBOU ME
\n0955 AM EST FRI JAN 16 2009<\/p>\n

**POTENTIAL STATEWIDE RECORD MINIMUM TEMPERATURE**<\/p>\n

AT 0730 AM EST THIS MORNING A USGS GAGE AT BIG BLACK RIVER RECORDED A LOW TEMPERATURE OF -50F. THIS EXCEEDS THE CURRENT STATEWIDE RECORD LOW TEMPERATURE OF -48F SET ON JANUARY 19TH…1925 AT VAN BUREN. THIS REPORT IS CONSIDERED UNOFFICIAL UNTIL A REVIEW OF THE EQUIPMENT AND DATA BY THE STATE CLIMATE EXTREMES COMMITTEE AS TO THE VALIDITY OF THIS REPORT. IF THE COMMITTEE ASCERTAINS THAT THIS IS INDEED A VALID REPORT…A SEPARATE PUBLIC INFORMATION STATEMENT WILL BE ISSUED AT THAT TIME.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Several hours prior to this, 1-km resolution NOAA-18 10.8 \u00b5m IR imagery (below)<\/em><\/strong> showed cold air drainage into the valleys of northern Maine, with surface IR brightness temperatures as cold as -45.4\u00ba C (-49.7\u00ba F)<\/strong> at 06:41 UTC (02:41 AM local time)<\/em>. The low that morning of -38\u00ba C (-37\u00ba F)<\/strong> at Caribou, Maine was the coldest temperature recorded at that location for the entire month of January.<\/p>\n

\"NOAA-18<\/a>

NOAA-18 10.8 \u00b5m IR image<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A strong “Alberta Clipper” system ushered in some of the coldest air of the 2008\/2009 winter season on 12 January 2009 — in fact, it was so cold that AWIPS images of the GOES-12 10.7 \u00b5m IR channel data (above) showed that surface brightness temperatures as cold as -20\u00ba to -40\u00ba C (cyan to green […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":18,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[22,19,12,5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1784","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-avhrr","category-goes-12","category-modis","category-winter-weather"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cimss.ssec.wisc.edu\/satellite-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1784","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cimss.ssec.wisc.edu\/satellite-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cimss.ssec.wisc.edu\/satellite-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cimss.ssec.wisc.edu\/satellite-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/18"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cimss.ssec.wisc.edu\/satellite-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1784"}],"version-history":[{"count":30,"href":"https:\/\/cimss.ssec.wisc.edu\/satellite-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1784\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":21771,"href":"https:\/\/cimss.ssec.wisc.edu\/satellite-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1784\/revisions\/21771"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cimss.ssec.wisc.edu\/satellite-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1784"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cimss.ssec.wisc.edu\/satellite-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1784"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cimss.ssec.wisc.edu\/satellite-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1784"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}