World’s coldest places
The continent of Antarctica is the coldest region on our planet.
It holds the record for the lowest temperature ever recorded, 128.6 below zero on July 21st, 1983.
On July 4th, 2003 a remote-recording weather station in east Antarctica reported an air temperature of -94 with a 75 mph wind making for a wind chill temperature of 150 degrees below zero. This was from a remote reading weather station as it is hard to believe a human could endure such conditions.
Greenland is another cold center with a reading of 87 below zero. Prospect Creek, Alaska holds the US record at -79.8 on January 23, 1971.
The 13,311 inhabitants of Fairbanks Alaska in 1961 endured one of the worst deep freezes for a city over 10,000 people. During the dark days of December the temperature on the 16th of the month dropped to 42 below zero and did not emerge above zero until the afternoon of the 31st.
The chart shows the intensity of the cold and it’s hard to believe that people could endure this type of weather. Christmas Day saw a low of -56 and a high of -50. The worst day during this siege was on the 28th when the low was -62 and the high only 55 degrees below zero.
Fairbanks has had worse, with a reading of 66 below zero as its lowest record on January 27th, 1989 but the cold did not last like the 1961 intense spell.
In the lower 48 states Rogers Pass, Montana recorded a -70 and Peter’s Sink, Utah has a -69. Embarrass, Minnesota, a small hamlet of just 691 souls, does not have an official weather station and their record of -64 has been verified as the coldest for the state.
It even gets cold in the south with -27 in New Market, Alabama and -2 below in Tallahassee, Florida.
Closer to home, Ohio reports -39, Maryland -40, and West Virginia -37 as their record lows.
The record in Pennsylvania is -42 at Smethport.
Uniontown had a record of -22 and Elliottsville in our nearby mountains had a record low of -37.
In the scheme of things cold, we have fared pretty well over the years and so far this season we did have a 20 degree morning but last weekend was in the 60s and we may see 60 this Saturday.
Winter is still on track to be on the mild side across Southwestern Pennsylvania; however that does not rule out a day or two below zero.