Arctic Front Brings Winter Weather and Colder Temperatures to the Eastern U.S.

A series of cold fronts will bring heavy lake effect snow to the northern Great Lakes. The fronts will merge over the Ohio Valley and bring colder temperatures east of the Mississippi River later today into the end of the week. Additionally, wintry weather will develop over the Ohio Valley, Appalachians, and Northeast as rain switches over to snow tonight into Thursday morning. Read More >

The Arctic Outbreak of February 1-4, 1996

From February 1-4, 1996, arctic temperatures overspread the Upper Mississippi River Valley (Table 1). The culprit was a frigid airmass which moved into the region in late January. With clear skies at night, temperatures plummeted into the 30s below zero over much of the area. This blast of arctic air set all-time record low temperatures for Iowa, Minnesota, and Wisconsin: Elkader, IA (tied the record at -47 on the 3rd); Courderay, WI (-55 on the 4th); and Tower, MN (-60 on the 4th).

The average four-day temperature in Wisconsin during the cold wave was -18.3 degrees, with an even colder -23.6 degree average in Minnesota. In Rochester, MN, temperatures stayed below zero from the morning of the 29th until midnight on the 5th (Fig. 1).

Location	2/1/1996	2/2/1996	2/3/1996	2/4/1996
Location	High / Low	High / Low	High / Low	High / Low
Charles City, IA	-5 / -23*	-12* / -32*	-13* / -30*	0 / -25*
Decorah, IA	-5 / -25	-13* / -34	-13* / -41*	1 / -36*
Elkader, IA	-5 / -23	-5* / -32	-13* / -47*	0 / -38*
Oelwein, IA	-11* / -28*	-20* / -31*	-15* / -32*	-1 / -22*
Austin, MN	-13* / -28	-19* / -34*	-15* / -31*	0 / -25*
Rochester, MN	-13* / -27	-20* / -35*	-15* / -30	1 / -24
Winona, MN	-4* / -20	-16* / -31*	-11* / -31*	4 / -31*
La Crosse, WI	-8 / -26	-13* / -34*	-9 / -36*	0 / -31*
Prairie Du Chien, WI	-1* / -17	-8* / -29	-11* / -36*	0 / -31*
Medford, WI	-12* / -35*	-5 / -37*	-19* / -37*	-12* / -37*

Table 1. Listing of high and low temperatures (F) for February 1-4, 1996. The * denotes a record temperature.

Fig 1. Temperature trace (F) for Rochester, MN.

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