Sunday, December 16, 2012

29 Years Ago... The Arctic Outbreak of 1983




Every year it's fun to go back and remember this historic event in our weather history.  The likelihood we will ever see something as extreme as December 1983 is very slim.  The cold started to set in around mid month and lasted until the end of the year.  The actual air temperature in Little Rock would never rise above freezing from late on December 18th until December 31st.  The prolong and extreme nature to the cold air is what makes this event historical.  Many remember how the Arkansas River froze over and you can see that video below from our KATV video archive.

I remember this arctic outbreak very well as we had a solid layer of ice and snow on the ground for Christmas.  It's the only white Christmas I have ever experienced in Arkansas.

Do you remember this?  If so, share your memories in the comment section.  Have pictures?   Send them to weather@katv.com

1 comment:

ChoralScholar said...

You know, Todd - I've been thinking I was remembering the Christmas of 1980 being so icy, but I'll bet it was 1983.

The NEW Arkansas Weather Blog