Extended Period of Zero or Below for the Twin Cities: February 3-5, 2007

Extended Period of Zero or Below for the Twin Cities
February 3-5, 2007

At midnight on February 3, 2007 the temperature dropped to zero at the Twin Cities International Airport and stayed at or below zero through 2pm February 5, 2007. This is a stretch of 63 hours at or below zero. This is the longest stretch below zero since January 28-31, 2004 when the mercury stayed at or below zero for 82 consecutive hours. However, this current stretch is longer than the 49 consecutive hours of at or below zero that was reached on January 13-15 2005.

How long would a stretch of zero or below weather be to make the top ten list? The mercury would have to stay at or below zero for at least FOUR full calendar days to have a chance of making the list. The most modern stretch of at or below zero temperatures to make the top ten list was in January 1994.


Extended Periods Zero or Below (From 1891-2007)
For Minneapolis/St. Paul

Rank Time Began          Time End         Hours
-----------------------------------------------
1.   8pm Dec 31 1911 to  1pm Jan 8  1912  186*
2.   2am Jan 18 1963 to  2pm Jan 24 1963  157
3.   4pm Jan 21 1936 to  2pm Jan 27 1936  143
4.   3pm Jan 13 1994 to  1pm Jan 19 1994  142
5.   7am Jan 16 1970 to  2pm Jan 22 1970  140
6.   1am Feb 14 1936 to  1pm Feb 19 1936  133
7.   3am Jan  8 1977 to  1am Jan 13 1977  119
8.   6pm Jan 19 1935 to 12pm Jan 24 1935  115
9.   6pm Jan  8 1912 to  9am Jan 13 1912  112
9.   8pm Dec 17 1963 to 11am Dec 22 1963  112 (tie)


*Note: If it weren't for 4 hours above zero the record would 
have been 311 hours from 8pm Dec 31 1911 to 10am Jan 13 1912.

The National Weather Service in Chanhassen posted a web article about the streak of below zero temperatures. Note that they focused on temperatures BELOW zero so that's why there are 61 hours in the streak of below zero temperatures for the Twin Cities.

Listed below is a statement on the Duluth below zero stretch courtesy the National Weather Service.

PUBLIC INFORMATION STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE
345 PM TUE FEB 6 2007

...CONTINUOUS BELOW ZERO STRING ENDS AT DULUTH...
THE TEMPERATURE DROPPED BELOW ZERO AT 6 PM FRIDAY FEBRUARY 2ND
AND CONTINUED UNTIL 1 PM THIS AFTERNOON WHEN THE TEMPERATURE REACHED
1 ABOVE ZERO. THIS WAS A RUN OF 91 CONSECUTIVE HOURS BELOW ZERO. 
THIS IS THE LONGEST STREAK OF CONTINUOUS HOURS BELOW ZERO SINCE JANUARY
2005 WHEN WE HAD 119 HOURS BELOW ZERO FROM JANUARY 13TH TO JANUARY
18TH. THE RECORD FOR CONSECUTIVE HOURS BELOW ZERO IS 285 HOURS
SET FROM JANUARY 1ST TO JANUARY 13TH IN 1912.

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URL: http://climate.umn.edu/doc/journal/zero0702.htm
Last modified: February 6, 2007