Wednesday, January 12, 2011

All Aboard The Arctic Express

Below is a video montage that I hope captures the excitement snow-megeddon brought us.  ENJOY!


9 AM Thursday Update... The 15 year old record stands at the Little Rock airport.  Our low temperature dropped to 16 degrees, but many outlying areas did drop into the single digits.  The coldest I could find was Arkadelphia at 3 degrees.  The small towns will report later this morning and I wouldn't be surprised to see some below zero temperatures.  I'll have them for you here!

Remember, for single digit lows at the airport, you need the perfect combo of clear skies, no wind, and snow cover.  While there were a few high clouds last night, I think the main reason was the wind.  It stayed out of the north from 3-7 mph.  That was enough to keep the 15 year record going.  I'll have more later this morning...

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We are still on track for the coldest morning in this arctic attack Thursday.  It's even possible for single digits which would make it the first time in 15 years in Little Rock if we can officially drop to 9 degrees.  I talk about the three ingredients for single digit temperatures: clouds, wind, and snow cover.  There will be a few high could moving through the state tonight, but the latest data I looked at shows they are quick moving and should only affect southern Arkansas.  The winds will be out of the north Thursday morning from 1-3 mph and we obviously have snow cover.  It's not an absolutely perfect set up, but it COULD be enough for 9 degrees at the Little Rock airport.  I fully expect outlying areas to get into the 5-9 degree range. The GFS shows 12 degrees while the NAM says 15.  Many times, the computers don't take into account the snow cover so these might be too warm.  It will be close and fun to watch.

While this is frigid, it's not going to be record breaking.  The record Thursday AM is 3 degrees set in 1912.  North Little Rock's record is 13 in 1997 so they could be in that territory.

Don't forget to send your low temperature and location in the comment section.

20 comments:

jimmylee42 said...

Todd=

I bottomed out at 15 in St. Charles WLR. It happened at about 7:15 and at 7:45 started rising slowly. Loved the montage of snow pics. I think we will get one more accumulating snow at least.

Anonymous said...

I think the little rock airport will bottom out at 11 degrees tonite keeping the streak of non single digits for 15 years going. North little rock will break there record i say 10 for them. I heard through the geapevine a warm up is coming this weekend and beyond. Looks like temps will be in the 60s looks like no more snow till next year oh well hope im wrong

tboyce1979 said...

I just have to point out the oxymoron...12 degrees will be too warm....

Anonymous said...

Hey todd or anyone else out there does central ark have anymore snow chances in thw near future 10 days or so. Todd ur worried about the low temp in little rock to much tonite. Is there a chance for winter weather or are ww just going to be rainy or cool an dry. To quiet on here summer supposed to be quiet an boring lets talk winter weather chances. Snowbird where are u?.u seem to give hope to what may be on the way.

shelleyv1 said...

It was 15 this morning at ward. BRrrrr!

Anonymous said...

Little rock has more snow this year then harrison an fayetteville combined. Thats just dont sound right im sure they will catch up an pass soon. Maybe little rock will get more snow but the averages say we wont i think little rocks above there anual average snowfall for one year. I guess it xan happen though lets hope for a repeat down the road i just have a feeling it may be ice hope im wrong again

Anonymous said...

hey if we get clouds and are in the teens will we see any snow from it?

Anonymous said...

Hugh, are you out there?

Seems like you might owe somebody some food. I guess we've seen the last of Hugh but my bet is he will appear using an alias or maybe he just floated away. Snowbird Bob & Ninja beat you again.

Snowbird Bob said...

Hello Everyone, Hope Everyone enjoyed the SNOW!!
1st Hat's off to Todd, Weather Ninja & Eric for the great Winter Storm coverage, I dont think there is a better place in the Southern US or maybe the US that could have done any better "GREAT JOB".
I guess I have to give myself a pat on the back also, Almost 3 months ago & then again 3 weeks ago I had predicted a Central & Southern Arkansas Winter Storm,I also said that I beleive some parts of Ark will be under Winter Storm Warnings between Dec.28-Jan.10, Also said I beleive Ark could be in the Deep Freeze in the first two weeks of Jan. Yall got it all..As far as the rest of the winter, I dont think Central & Southern Ark is out of the wood by no means, I do think the odds are a little higher of that part of the state though, Now this may be some bad news or depending on your location" Northern Ark Get Ready to Rumble" Its your turn next & most likely will out do snow total in the Central & South. It seems that most of the very cold air & storm tracks will start taking a more northern track"For Now".. I do still think there is a chance for an Extremely Cold period as we head into the Feb.1-12 time frame just by looking at certain signals. As far as Little Rock low's tonight outside the city 8-10 degrees & Airport 11-14... We Shall See" & One other thing its ARKANSAS you know yall will get some suprises just be patient lol..I still have to get my Ark snow trip this year..Thinking the end of this month or Early Feb??

jimmylee42 said...

Wow, the 18z GFS shows a very stong January thaw starting Friday the 21st going on probably at least to the end of the month. A couple of days shows the 540 line way up into Canada. This could mean we get much colder in Feb.

robertrowland said...

It was 11 here this AM!!! Looking for 9 in the morning!!!!

jimmylee42 said...

Everyone check out Todd's link in the blogger box. January 1918 was a month for the record books.

Anonymous said...

We in Arkadelphia sure wish Todd would correct the state map showing "current temps". We dropped below 11 degrees several hours ago. How often is the map updated?? We're proud of our record this morning of 3 degrees!!

Anonymous said...

Feels pretty nice outside today in the river market. Nice and crisp not to cold. I was lookin online looks like in about 10 days supposed to have highs in ark in the 60s and 70s for highs for a long time to come. i do think it will cool off in early to mid march with a possible snow and or ice event.

Amy said...

I saw some information today from NASA concerning "La Nina". It's much stronger than they anticipated right now and may even be the strongest ever! What does this typically mean to Arkansas weather?

snowenthusiast said...

13 degrees in Sherwood at my house.

Anonymous said...

My has the blog died down from just a week ago. Its like everyone had there snow for the year and there happy. Snowbird disappeared, todd writing nothing about snow chances in the future. Guess that means the pattern is not im our favor oh well least we had one snow this year.

Anonymous said...

Seems like the weather is going to be boring for a while. Seems like when it snowed last week every stations newscast was nothing but weather. Its like there was nothing else going on. Todd nit tweeting much snowbird fell off the face of the earth. ninja not tryin to stir the pot. its just boring on here now. Does anyone think we are out of the woods on winter weather?

jimmylee42 said...

Has everyone heard the old saying "if the snow hangs around it will come back"? Over the many winters I have recorded and studied in LR this has been true most of the time. I predict we will get another good snow in Feb.

The 76 hours in a row of freezing temps would have been about 120 hours if we had not reached 33 degrees on Tuesday. This makes the 300 hours consecutive of freezing temps in Dec. 83 seem even more impressive to me.

Snowbird Bob said...

Hello Everyone, Snowbird has not disappeared, I am alive an well"THANK GOD" Ok I am about to put myself out on another limb or limbs..lol I just needed some time to recover from all this cold & snow..Here goes..
These are my opinions so take them as that..As of now Jan.14 thru the end of this month I do think we will be about average, some days below & somedays above,, As far as winter precip, I do think there is a chance for some winter weather as we head toward the last week of this month & maybe a short colder period..I beleive the odds are not great though. Now, here is were I maybe getting myself off in the deep end.. As we head into the Feb.1-15 time-frame"Watch Out" When I say watch out! I am currently thinking that parts of the United States including our part of the US will have a chance of seeing some extreme Arctic Air, With many chances of winter weather for any part of the state, I am talking high's in the teen's & 20's for the entire state & low's 0 to 10 above for the entire state"Possibly Colder than that in some locations in the state..We are in the heart of Winter..& I would look at this short thaw as a Thank you mother nature if you are looking for extremes.. This will give time for Major Arctic Air & Pressures to build over the pole & If the set up is right, A large peice of this could head south into the US.We may have escaped the Huge Arctic Outbreak this past week, Yes it was COLD, But what looms in my opinion,Could be much worse than we have currently experenced..No its not written in stone by no means...We Shall See

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