How Much Do Temperatures Climb After A Below Zero Morning?

Since the snowfall Sunday, temperatures have been in the deep freeze across northern Ohio and surrounding states.  All locations dropped below zero Monday morning and again Tuesday morning. So how much have temperatures rebounded after these -10s and -20s?  Here are the temperature recording graphed out for 15 locations around Ohio since late Sunday. I labeled the coldest readings for the last 2 mornings.

Notice how the temperatures vary from place to place depending on the snow cover, proximity to the lake, sky condition and wind speeds.

How cold has it been in your backyard?

ASHTABULA

BURKE lAKEFRONT AIRPORT

AKRON-CANTON AIRPORT

DOVER

KIRTLAND

LORAIN

MEDINA

MANSFIELD

NORTON

ROME

SANDUSKY

SHAKER HEIGHTS

STRONGSVILLE

TIFFIN

WILLOUGHBY

Arctic Cold Morning Monday - More On The Way

Clear skies, dry air, relatively calm winds and heavy snow cover are the ingredients for arctic cold temperatures.

MANY AREAS LOWER THAN -20

Automated reporting stations as of 6AM.

A FEW NOTES ON THIS MORNING'S COLD:

* OFFICIAL LOW AT THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE OFFICE AT HOPKINS AIRPORT WAS -12 BETWEEN 6 AND 7AM.  BROKE THE RECORD OF -8 SET IN 1904.

* COLDEST MORNING LOW SINCE 2009

* 2ND COLDEST LOW TEMPERATURE AFTER FEBRUARY 15TH SINCE 1963

* WHAT WAS THE COLDEST TEMP LAST WINTER?:  -11

SOME ADDITIONAL STATS BELOW

Record low across the eastern US fell starting Sunday.

We could see two more nights below zero especially Thursday night into Friday morning.

Was Last Winter Really The Worst In Years?

 ...It depends how you define "worst winter in years."

Most of us define past winters using four metrics:  Average Winter Temperature (Dec through February), Seasonal snowfall, Number of nights at or below zero and the number of days with snow on the ground greater than one inch (how often does the snow cover the grass).

I revisit this topic because we will air our Winter Weather Outlook Thursday, October 30th at 10PM. Invariably, everyone is comparing this upcoming winter to last year's rough winter.  If we only had longer weather memories, we'd soon realize that last winter was comparable with winters in the early 2000s both in snowfall and in temperature. 

* Was last winter a rough one?  Certainly. 

* Were the temperatures extreme?  Only the night time lows (6 nights below zero in January, 4 in February--3 were records). 

* Did we break snowfall records?  Nope. Not even close. More snow fell in the winters of 2002, 2003 and 2004.


The graphics below tell the story perfectly.

AVERAGE WINTER TEMPERATURE (DECEMBER THROUGH FEBRUARY)

SEASONAL SNOWFALL - TOP 10 WINTERS

NUMBER OF NIGHTS AT OR BELOW ZERO

DAYS WITH SNOW ON THE GROUND AT OR GREATER THAN ONE INCH