Tuesday, February 19, 2013

-40F Wind Chill Tonight?

What a day. The wind has been relentless - though not quite as strong as earlier. Currently in Grand Forks, it is -7°F, with a north wind of 26 mph gusting to 35 mph, producing a wind chill of -34F. Early this morning, the worst conditions were at 5:09am with a north wind of 43 mph gusting to 51 mph:

Conditions at: KGFK observed 18 February 2013  11:09 UTC
Temperature: -8.0°C (18°F)
Dewpoint: -10.0°C (14°F) [RH = 85%]
Pressure (altimeter): 29.57 inches Hg (1001.4 mb)
Winds: from the NNW (340 degrees) at 43 MPH (37 knots; 19.2 m/s)
gusting to 51 MPH (44 knots; 22.9 m/s)
Visibility: 0.25 miles (0.40 km)
Ceiling: indefinite ceiling with vertical visibility of 900 feet AGL
Clouds: obscured sky
Present Weather: FZFG  (freezing fog)
SOME DATA ABOVE MAY BE INACCURATE!!!
"$" is an indication the sensor requires maintenance
KGFK 181109Z AUTO 34037G44KT 1/4SM FZFG VV009 M08/M10 A2957 RMK AO2 PK WND 34044/1108 PWINO FZRANO TSNO $


However with much lower actual temperatures, the wind chill is now the worst it's been and I'm wondering if we can reach a -40F wind chill. I have never experienced that, with my coldest experienced wind chill being -38F earlier this winter. It looks like we will bottom out to an overnight low of about -12F around 6-7am. If we can retain a 24 mph wind at that time, that will result in a wind chill of -40F. Otherwise, -13 with a 21 mph wind will work. Going to be close!

...UPDATE...At 8:37am we had a temperature of -11F and north wind of 23mph for a wind chill of -38F. However the peak wind, or gust, at that time was 29 knots (33.4mph). Using the peak wind, the wind chill this morning was -42F! This marks the lowest wind chill of my life.

KGFK 191453Z 35020KT 10SM SCT010 M24/M28 A3034 RMK AO2 PK WND 35029/1437 SLP304 6//// T12391278 53024


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Below are a couple of nice videos showing how poor the visibility was on the outskirts of Grand Forks this morning. Visibility there was at best an eighth of a mile (660 feet) and at worst 50-100 feet. Even in the middle of town where I live, with plenty of homes and trees nearby to inhibit the blowing snow, visibility was no better than a half mile through morning. The local paper - The Grand Forks Herald - dubbed this 'Blizzard Dolley' which is named after former first lady Dolley Madison.




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