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Coldest and warmest temperatures you've experienced

Started by Bruce, May 07, 2020, 06:51:01 AM

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Bruce

Bonus if it was in your home region.

My coldest was this past November in Boston. Sunny day, but the high temp was in the high 20s and I had to don an extra layer for walks outside. It also briefly snowed, but didn't stick.

As for my warmest, it probably goes to the brief heat wave in the Seattle area in June 2009, where my town saw our first triple-digit day ever.


jeffandnicole

119 or 120 in the Las Vegas area.

For any period of time that I remember, around -1 in the Minneapolis area.  Walking around drinking a beer before a Vikings/Eagles game, and the beer was freezing to my goatee.  I've seen colder, but was usually in my car or home, or rushing between the two, and I was much younger and don't really remember it.

1995hoo

Coldest was around —20° at Mont-Tremblant (wind chill was a bit lower than that). I have a photo somewhere of the car's outside temperature display reading —8° the following morning.

Hottest, not sure, but certainly triple digits because it's not that rare in the DC area for it to get that hot. When we visited Phoenix in late September/early October 2015, it was around 103°. That's not the hottest I've ever experienced, but it was certainly the hottest for that time of year. The hottest I've experienced at home was 105° on July 7, 2012, and August 17, 1997. Don't know if it was any hotter than that in Texas the last time I was there (late July/early August 1990, but I don't remember the exact dates to be able to look it up).
"You know, you never have a guaranteed spot until you have a spot guaranteed."
—Olaf Kolzig, as quoted in the Washington Times on March 28, 2003,
commenting on the Capitals clinching a playoff spot.

"That sounded stupid, didn't it?"
—Kolzig, to the same reporter a few seconds later.

Max Rockatansky

#3
Apparently officially 118F when I lived in Phoenix 2001-2013.  That said, I was leaving Casa Grande back in 2012 and my car registered 138F outside.  Even after driving. Back to the City of Phoenix during the course of an hour it only dropped to 136F.  I guarantee it was over 120F in sun, apparently the high in the Area was measured in the shade at Sky Harbor Airport. 

In living memory it was -14F during January 2013 when I was north of Cedar City, UT when I was heading to Great Basin National Park.  The winter of 1984 in Detroit had a drop to -21F but I have no recollection of it...because I wasn't even 2. 

oscar

Two candidates for hottest:

-- 120F in the bottom of Death Valley, in mid-summer

-- In a mid-summer traffic jam in El Paso, my truck's exterior thermometer reported 130F (I think it was the maximum that thermometer would report). My vehicle and many of the surrounding vehicles were overheating, which drove up the air temperature.

As for coldest, the coldest I experienced as an adult was -8F in Watertown NY. I was told that as a little child living at the time in Fergus Falls MN, it got down to -35F, but I have no memory of that experience.
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NWI_Irish96

January 19, 1994. Temperature in South Bend, IN, reached -21F.  My classes were not canceled that day and thus I had to venture outside.

July 7, 2012.  Temperature in Jeffersonville, IN, reached 106F.  Quite a swing for a single state without significant elevation changes.
Indiana: counties 100%, highways 100%
Illinois: counties 100%, highways 61%
Michigan: counties 100%, highways 56%
Wisconsin: counties 86%, highways 23%

formulanone

August 2001: 114 °F in Las Vegas (dry heat, thankfully)
February 2017: -25 °F in Edmonton

I think the coldest I've experienced in Huntsville was 6 °F and 102 °F, both in 2016...February and August, respectively.

kphoger

—19°F / Ramsey, Minnesota / December

116°F / Glen Canyon NRA, Utah / July




Quote from: oscar on May 07, 2020, 08:25:47 AM
My vehicle and many of the surrounding vehicles were overheating, which drove up the air temperature.

A few years ago on family vacation, our car overheated in the middle of nowhere in far western Colorado.  The temperature that day was around 100°F.  After refilling the radiator, and finding out that didn't fix the issue, we drove the next 65 mph with the heat on full blast in order to reduce the risk of overheating again.
Keep right except to pass.  Yes.  You.
Visit scenic Orleans County, NY!
Male pronouns, please.

Quote from: Philip K. DickIf you can control the meaning of words, you can control the people who must use them.

lakewobegon

I won't get brownie points for more than one place, but in St. Cloud, MN
Highest 102 F
Lowest -40 F (twice, once when my daughter had given me chicken pox)
Yeah, they were notable
Bob Weisman

US 89

Warmest: around 107F in Salt Lake City. I've also been to Oklahoma when the heat index was something around 120F, but I don't think the actual temperature was any more than 105.

My car once showed a temperature of 122F in Heber City, Utah of all places...naturally a few minutes after I started driving it had dropped back down to a more accurate reading in the mid 90s.

Coldest: -22F in Big Sky, Montana. Wind chill in the mid -30s.

Hot Rod Hootenanny

Coldest was -30 back during January, 1994.*
Hottest would be been 103 during summer of 1987 (a drought year for us in Central Ohio)

*personal thermometer showed -40, but no official accounts in Ohio got below -35.
Please, don't sue Alex & Andy over what I wrote above

ozarkman417

-14 near Vail, CO December of 2012

Not 100% on this one, but 105 also in 2012 back in Springfield.

I see the Utah and Vegas are common hottest temperature locations in the posts above, but the one time I was there it was early Spring (of 2016), so it was not bad.




vdeane

For me, I think the coldest is probably around -18 one day in college up in Potsdam.  I actually looked up the weather in Vostok Station, Antarctica and found that, once you included the wind chill (somewhere around 20-40 degrees colder, if I remember right), it was actually warmer down there that day.  One of the reason why I consider the North Country to be New York's Siberia.

It also got close to that on a trip down I-88 one winter, but I don't think it went lower, and that day didn't have the same wind chill.

For warmest, I know I've experienced the low 100s, but nothing in particular stands out.
Please note: All comments here represent my own personal opinion and do not reflect the official position of NYSDOT or its affiliates.

SectorZ

Coldest: -15 on Feb. 2004 when I lived in Chelmsford MA

Warmest: 101, multiple times in my life living in Fitchburg and Tewksbury MA

kphoger

Quote from: lakewobegon on May 07, 2020, 12:20:33 PM
I won't get brownie points for more than one place, but in St. Cloud, MN
Highest 102 F
Lowest -40 F (twice, once when my daughter had given me chicken pox)
Yeah, they were notable

Actually, I'm interested to see that your highest high was in Minnesota.

Quote from: vdeane on May 07, 2020, 01:27:50 PM
For me, I think the coldest is probably around -18 one day in college up in Potsdam.  I actually looked up the weather in Vostok Station, Antarctica and found that, once you included the wind chill (somewhere around 20-40 degrees colder, if I remember right), it was actually warmer down there that day.  One of the reason why I consider the North Country to be New York's Siberia.

Being colder than Antarctica isn't very uncommon.  But being colder than Vostok Station–now that's impressive.
Keep right except to pass.  Yes.  You.
Visit scenic Orleans County, NY!
Male pronouns, please.

Quote from: Philip K. DickIf you can control the meaning of words, you can control the people who must use them.

corco

According to my trusty car

- that would be a particularly cold morning in Deer Lodge, Montana in 2014

- this would be a particularly hot afternoon in Tucson in August 2012

1995hoo

My car won't display a temperature above 111°F. It flatlines instead and shows "---°F." I've never had my car in a place where the temperature got that high, but it's flatlined a few times due to the heat buildup from the summer sun beating down on the car. I should put an oven thermometer on the dashboard on those sorts of days to see how hot it gets inside the car.
"You know, you never have a guaranteed spot until you have a spot guaranteed."
—Olaf Kolzig, as quoted in the Washington Times on March 28, 2003,
commenting on the Capitals clinching a playoff spot.

"That sounded stupid, didn't it?"
—Kolzig, to the same reporter a few seconds later.

kphoger

My car's thermometer wigged out a couple of years ago and no longer shows the temperature.  Right before it totally went out, it would fluctuate wildly between, say, -40°F and +85°F in the span of 30 seconds.  Kinda funny at the time.
Keep right except to pass.  Yes.  You.
Visit scenic Orleans County, NY!
Male pronouns, please.

Quote from: Philip K. DickIf you can control the meaning of words, you can control the people who must use them.

MikieTimT

-18F here in Fayetteville back in 2011
115F in Las Vegas back in 2000

Rothman

#19
110+ in the Badlands in South Dakota in the late 1980s.  I've experienced other days in that range, but that day in the Badlands was most memorable.

-33 in Superior WI, winter 2001-2002.
Please note: All comments here represent my own personal opinion and do not reflect the official position(s) of NYSDOT.

Eth

Really the notable thing for me is that the coldest I've experienced was actually right here in Georgia. I'm unsure of the exact year, I think around 2003, but I recall the bank sign across the road from Atlanta Motor Speedway reading 7°F.

At the other end, I believe I've seen 105°F on several occasions, most recently in late June of 2012 in Conyers, GA.

webny99

#21
Quote from: Bruce on May 07, 2020, 06:51:01 AM
Bonus if it was outside of your home region.

Shouldn't the bonus be if it's in your home region?

It's easy to find the extremes if you travel to the right places.

ftballfan

The coldest I remember is -16 in northern Mason County during the winter of 2015. I've seen over 100 degrees a couple of times. Don't remember exactly when or where.

I remember four particularly hot theme park days in particular (I don't think any of the days hit 100 on the temps, but I think all were over 100 with the heat index):
July or August 2004 at Cedar Point. I remember seeing multiple ambulance carts taking people who had fainted to first aid. It was in the 90s easily that day.
June 2017 at Kings Island. Temperature was 91 degrees at 6pm when I was leaving, so it probably had to be 95+ at its hottest. It was so hot and I wasn't drinking enough water, so I ended up puking on a roller coaster and needing to go to first aid to cool down.
Two consecutive days in September 2018 at Busch Gardens Tampa and SeaWorld Orlando. I did manage to hydrate after my Kings Island debacle the previous year, but my clothes were absolutely soaked with sweat both days (temperatures were in the 90s both days with heat indices around 100-105). It was so warm that even the locals were complaining a little bit.

Roadgeekteen

Warmest probably in the high 90 or low 100s. I've never been to the desert.

Coldest probably a couple degrees bellow 0.
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Bruce

Quote from: webny99 on May 07, 2020, 10:14:35 PM
Quote from: Bruce on May 07, 2020, 06:51:01 AM
Bonus if it was outside of your home region.

Shouldn't the bonus be if it's in your home region?

It's easy to find the extremes if you travel to the right places.

Whoops.

Don't post at 4 am, kids.



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