Autumn 1991 historic cold

Posted at 8:17 AM on November 3, 2008 by Craig Edwards (2 Comments)

While the recollection of the Halloween Blizzard of 1991 focuses on the record snowfall and the rutted roadways, the cold weather that followed remains historic as well.

Beginning today, five of the next six days still hold the record for minimum temprature in the Twin Cities in 1991.

Record Low Date
eight November 3
minus three November 4
zero November 6
minus six November 7
one November 8

A good chance for a run at the reord maximum in the Twin Cities today as we are on the warm side of a developing weather system. If we top out greater than 74 we will break the record set in 1978.

Computer models continue to play out the development of a strengthening weather system in the upper Midwest this week. Milder air, with increasing moisture, will mix with colder air on Wednesday. By the end of the work week, the feel of the atmosphere will be much different than we are experiencing today.
CE
naturesmessenger.com

Comments (2)

I suspect, Craig, part of the reason why those days were so cold was because of the snowpack and the albedo effect of all that snow keeping the ground from absorbing any heat.

Posted by Paul | November 3, 2008 8:43 AM

Precisely. You can really generate loss of heat with fresh, deep snow pack, clear skies and calm winds. Daytime highs stayed cold and once the wind died down, we tumbled to minus six on November 7th. You'll find it interesting that the record low for November 9th in the Twin Cities is plus twelve set in 1945 and 1926. Certainly seems like the minus six for the 7th will be hard to beat!
CE

Posted by Craig | November 3, 2008 9:02 AM

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