Coldest North Carolina Weather Since I Was in College
The Midwest and Northeast have had their share of record temperatures during the past couple of weeks; tonight the record-breakers will also include the Southeast. Temperatures will likely fall to the lowest readings since I was in college. If you look at the SERCCranks for tomorrow's (NWS) forecast low temperatures, you can see a lot of #1s!
The below-normal charts show huge numbers, down to 38 below! The 1994 and 1996 arctic outbreaks were the last time North Carolina has experienced a big Arctic outbreak like this one. Our news article says, "In the mid-Atlantic, some daily record lows set during the late-1800s will be challenged." The map below shows some of the daily records that will be broken:
RealFeel temperatures tonight will be below -10 over the entire Northeast tonight and below -30 in Pennsylvania and New York.
Here's a look at several cities in North Carolina showing our forecast versus the winter record beyond Feb. 19 and their all-time record low.
City: Forecast Low / Record >2/19 / All-Time / (Forecast Rank)
North Wilkesboro +2 / >+2* / -9 Asheville: +2 / -2 / -17 Charlotte: +3 / +4 / -5 (#7) Hickory: +1 / >+4* / -8 (#5) Wilmington: +12 / >+9* / 0 Raleigh: +6 / >+5* / -9
*Dates not available for non-climo stations.
It would appear the coldest air will be between Charlotte and Hickory, which could set their #7 and #5 all-time record lows, and which is also the area where I grew up. Hickory hasn't been below 1 degree (our forecast) since 1994, when I was in college, (their all-time record was set in 1985, which i "blogged" about when I was 11 years old), and it has never been as cold as we're forecasting, this late in the season. Wilmington, North Carolina, has only been below 10 degrees after this date in winter once -- March 4, 1980, and that was 9 degrees. We're forecasting 12 tonight, so that record could be in jeopardy.
UPDATE: Tim Buckley in Greensboro also passed along their data:
Farther south, in Florida, it will be cold but generally not in the top 10, or even 20 cold readings -- not as bad as the 2010 outbreak. NWS forecast temperatures shown below:
