Minus 32: Arctic Cold Sets Records in Kentucky, East

UPDATE: The NWS has published a set of selected record daily lows here.

ORIGINAL ENTRY: CoolWx.com says at 9 this morning "Unofficially, there are currently 208 stations that have broken their daily low record, 14 that are tying it, and 44 that are near it." There were probably more than that earlier. Here's an animation of this week's (unofficial) records through 8 AM this morning:

Yesterday I concentrated on the North Carolina cold, because it hadn't been that cold since I lived there 20 years ago, so let's check in on them now:

North Wilkesboro: 0 (Records N/A)Asheville: +4(Broke Daily)Charlotte: 7 (Broke Daily)Hickory: 5* (Records N/A)Greensboro: +6(Broke Daily)Wilmington: 13Raleigh: 7 (Broke Daily)

Although daily records were broken (in some cases, smashed), none of these readings are in the top 20 coldest, so the state got away without seeing the coldest weather since I went to college. Here are selected 7 a.m. temps:

Farther northwest in Kentucky, this wasn't the case. London, Kentucky fell to minus 17, besting their all-time February low of minus 11, low beyond Feb. 19 of minus 12, and almost hitting their all-time record low of minus 18! Minus 18 degrees was achieved in Lexington, Kentucky, smashing the daily record of zero; they had never been below minus 8 after Feb. 15! The lowest temperature in the state was minus 32 at Richmond. The state record is only minus 37! As you can see from the map above, there are a number of other stations that may have set monthly records in and around the state.

Yesterday, our news story says: "At Cape Girardeau, Missouri, the temperature dropped to minus 19 F Thursday morning and set a record low for any date of the year. The old record was minus 18 F set during January 1977."

Here in Central Pennsylvania, I pointed out last night that we were colder than places in Russia, Iceland, Alaska, and the mountains of Colorado and California. The official Penn State station dipped to minus 8 today, setting a new daily record and marking the third day under 10 degrees F (the first was a new all-time record).

NOTE: The title of this blog was previously "Siberian Express," which was a term the media was using. Since I was unable to confirm that this air actually came from Siberia after writing this entry, I have changed the title to "Arctic Cold."