Remembering an imporant record

2010-01-30 16:54:37.000 – Brian Clark,  Observer and Meteorologist

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Of course, the big news in the last week has been the new world record wind speed that dethroned our 231 mph wind gust and moved it to second place. We have gotten tons of calls from various media outlets and there have been countless articles and blog entries posted on the internet about the topic. With all this hoopla, it was easy to overlook the passing of the anniversary of another important record in the long history of the Mount Washington Observatory yesterday.

On January 29, 1934 a low temperature of -47 degrees Fahrenheit was recorded on Mount Washington. This is not only the lowest temperature we have ever recorded, but also the lowest temperature ever recorded in the state of New Hampshire. Now of course, that’s just the air temperature. On that day, wind speeds were well over 100 mph, producing wind chills at or below 100 below zero. Although yesterday was not quite that cold on the summit, it was a very cold day. In fact, with a low of -26, it was the coldest day so far this season. With how warm it has been lately, it felt particularly cold while I was outside for my hourly weather observations yesterday afternoon.

The cold weather will continue on the summit and in the northeast in general. Temperatures over the next several days will remain below zero here on the Rockpile as an upper level trough moving through tomorrow reinforces the cold air already in place. This makes for great snowmaking weather for ski areas in the valley to be able to recover from the deluge this past Monday, but not great weather for enjoying that snow!

Brian Clark,  Observer and Meteorologist