Coldest temperature since Feb. 2009–Updated

The low this morning in Charlotte dropped to a bone chilling low of just 12°. That breaks the record low for the date of 14° set in 1937. Even more amazing is that this low was colder than any low we had all of last winter. The coldest low we had all of the 2009-2010 winter was 15° on January 13th and 31st 2010. You’re probably saying what’s so big about that? Lets remember what happened last winter.

Last winter was the coldest winter since the winter of 1976-77. Which was the last time that we had a Dec-Feb average temperature in the 30s. The main reason this happened wasn’t so much the night time lows but the highs and lows combined last winter never warmed up. There was a stretch in early January where the highs where in the 30s and lows where in the teen for 5 days. The average temperature those 5 days never got above 27°. That’s really cold for Charlotte! .
This December has been off to the the 6th coldest start on record. The first 6 days of the month have had an average temperature of 37.1°.  For perspective that makes our average temperature for December so far more similar to Boston, MA than Charlotte, NC. Below are some other perspectives for the past 2 weeks, thanks to SERCC.

The pattern that has brought us this cold air isn’t going to break down for a while both the NAO (North Atlantic Oscillation) and AO(Arctic Oscillation) remain negative for the next 7-14 days. When these 2 indices are negative we get arctic air invading the eastern half of the country. Plus when they are both so negative they can cancel out the impacts of La Nina which normally brings us milder Temperatures.

Stay Warm!