| |
|
| Table of contents |
|
2 Kansas City 3 Springfield 4 Freak Weather! 5 Another Notable Cold Wave |
What caused the cold snap?
The main cause of such a dramatic cold snap was that there was an extremely strong storm system separating warm, humid air from frigid, arctic air. Additionally, dramatic cold snaps occur mostly in November anyway. But dramatic cold snaps can also come in February or March.
Kansas City
Temperatures in Kansas City reached a record high of 76° F by late morning before the front moved through. As the cold front approached, the winds increased turning from southeast to northwest. By midnight, the temperature had dropped to 11° F! A astonishing 65 degree difference in 14 hours!
Record highs and lows were established on the same day in Oklahoma City as well (High: 83°, Low: 17°; temperature difference: 66°!)
Note: It is unknown whether or not the records from 11/11/11 still hold today. You can always go to a midwest city's weather station website and find out if the records set on 11/11/11 still hold.
Springfield
In Springfield, the temperature difference was even more freakish. Springfield was at 80° before the cold front moved through. Two hours later, the temperature was at 40° with winds blasting out of the northwest at 40 mph. By 7:00 P.M. the temperature was 7°! At midnight, a record low of 13° was established. Making it the first time since records have been kept for Springfield where the record high and record low were broken in the same day. The freak temperature difference was also a record breaker: 67° in 10 hours!Freak Weather!
The front produced severe weather and tornadoes across the upper Mississippi Valley, a blizzard in Ohio, and the windy conditions upon front passage caused a dust storm in Oklahoma. Nine tornadoes were reported in Michigan, Illinois, Indiana, and Wisconsin. An F4 tornado hit in Janesville, Wisconsin killing 9 and injuring 50. Within an hour of the tornado, survivors were working in blizzard conditions and near zero temperatures to rescue people trapped in debris.Another Notable Cold Wave
The Great Lakes area has seen its share of dramatic cold snaps, but nothing as big as the 11/11/11 cold wave. In the early afternoon hours of February 11, 1999, many cities in the Great Lakes area saw temperatures soar to more than 70° for the first time ever in February. South Bend, Indiana reported a record high of 72° F. By 8:00 P.M., temperatures had plummeted to near freezing. (Just in case you're wondering, the old record for February 11 in South Bend was only 46°. The record was broken by 26 degrees.)