Friday, February 24, 2012

You Think This Weather Is Extreme? Think Again!

Many of you know I am fascinated by Arkansas weather history.  I have a tremendous amount of respect for those who actually keep track of it like Jimmylee42 who posts quite a bit of great information in the comment section.  Also, Brian, at the National Weather Service office in North Little Rock is managing our current weather history so those 100 years from now will be able to look back at what we lived through.

This winter has been quite warm.  Some might even categorize it as "extreme" in terms of warmth.  After all, we hit 82 degrees Thursday tying a daily record high.  Thursday was also one of the top 10 warmest February days in Little Rock weather history.

The pendulum can swing in a different direction as well.  In case you don't know, the coldest temperature ever recorded in Arkansas was February 13th, 1905, when the mercury dropped to a bone chilling -29 degrees near Gravette, Arkansas.

I decided to head down to the Butler Center in downtown Little Rock and find some old stories from the Arkansas Gazette about that incredible cold weather.  I found some awesome stories in the next days paper (Feb. 14th).  It's funny as well.  They were making fun of the weather man more than 100 years ago!  It's a must read!  Special thanks to Glenn Whaley at the Butler Center for helping get this put together!  They have a great staff over there!


Story continues below....


Update... I found some of the actual weather maps from the "U.S Weather Bureau".  Enjoy!

This is the actual weather map showing an area of low pressure near Maine with a cold front extending southward into the Gulf of Mexico.  Cold high pressure is settling into the central United States.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

I knew it! SnowbirdBob HAS given up on his 20-30 year arctic outbreak! "There is always next year :)" he says...

Julia Magee said...

My grandmother who was born in 1873said they used to wait for the Arkansas River to freeze so they could take the wagons across to Little Rock. After leaving Pickles Gap, they would spend the night in a log cabin near Palarm, then on to LR the next morning. There was a lean to for the horses or mules and sometimes there would be several families spending the night in the cabin. They certainly could have made the trip in 1905. Good reading. Thank you.

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