Largest One Week Temperature Variations You’ve Experienced

Started by Max Rockatansky, May 07, 2020, 12:37:29 PM

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Max Rockatansky

Doesn't have to be the same place, but those instances would be pretty notable if they are extreme.  For me back in January of 2013 I experienced -14F weather during a morning drive from Cedar City, Utah west to Great Basin National Park.  Seven days later I experienced 94F weather on the Rio Grande River at Big Bend National Park. 


1995hoo

I remember one year when it was 75° in DC the first weekend of January. Ms1995hoo and I went downtown for a Caps game and we ate dinner outdoors at a pizza place near the arena. The following weekend, she was out of town and it was 5° in the DC area, though that didn't stop me from cooking a burger outside on the grill. I don't remember what year that was, though.
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kphoger

When driving home from Mexico once, it was 102°F when we stopped for lunch in Monterrey.  The next day, after arriving in Wichita, it was sleeting outside when my family went out to eat here in Wichita.  Most of that temperature difference was just in the last 150 miles of the trip.  It was 85°F when we left OKC but 35°F when we arrived in Wichita.

The one that beats that–by distance but not by time–was when my dad and I took the bus from Creel to Batopilas, Chihuahua, in December 2001.  Over the course of just 85 miles, we dropped about 6000 feet in elevation.  When we got up before dawn in Creel, it was below freezing;  when we got off the bus in Batopilas at around noon that day, it was shorts and tee-shirt weather.
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jemacedo9

Not quite what the OP had in mind...but Upstate NY is good for this in the spring...I lived 4 miles from Lake Ontario...one day about 5 years ago the inland temp at my apt had spiked to 81 but it was 53 lakeside 10 minutes away.  Not the biggest range listed...but not bad for a 4 mile distance.

1995hoo

kphoger's comment about the change in elevation reminded me of the largest one-day temperature variation I've experienced. On September 29, 2015, Ms1995hoo and I began the day at the Grand Canyon, where we had stayed overnight at the South Rim; it was 46° when we woke up in the morning. It had probably been colder than that during the night (I had to get up and close the window because we were cold), but I don't know what the actual low temperature was. After touring around the South Rim for a few hours, we drove down to Phoenix to my wife's brother's house. It was 103° there when we arrived.
"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

Colorado is great for this kind of thing too.  The time our car overheated north of Naturita, it was 100°F outside at noon.  A few days later, after the car was repaired, we pitched our tent in a campground near Idaho Springs.  The next morning, our tent had frost on it.
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.

Max Rockatansky

Quote from: kphoger on May 07, 2020, 02:49:48 PM
Colorado is great for this kind of thing too.  The time our car overheated north of Naturita, it was 100°F outside at noon.  A few days later, after the car was repaired, we pitched our tent in a campground near Idaho Springs.  The next morning, our tent had frost on it.

Arizona is pretty solid too.  It was fairly common to be in the single digits in Flagstaff or Show Low only to drive 2-3 hours back to weather in the low 70s in Phoenix.  That -14F I cited above was actually 61F in Las Vegas twelve hours prior.  Elevation can play a huge part in regional swings, especially in arid areas that cool fast. 

formulanone

The Tampa Bay area can get some temperature swings in February - I recall one day with a foggy 35 degree morning which topped out at 82 and clear in the afternoon, and a few days similar to that throughout mid-winter. There's no benefit of elevation changes in that part of the country...

Can't remember the specifics on a week, but it's not unusual to have a few places 50-60 degree spreads in fall or late-winter, which makes packing and preparing a little confusing. Just put a little of everything in the suitcase.

If we're counting flying in the same week/seven-day span, I've had some brutal changes from 72-75 degrees in Florida to the airport exit at -10 and thick with snow. That's a little unfair to count...

thspfc

Haha, try four hours. Last January it was -25 degrees in Milwaukee when I took off at General Mitchell, and after a two hour flight to Denver, it was 60 there. Then after a two hour drive up into the mountains, it was in the low teens. A total variation of 135 degrees in four hours.

ftballfan

Can't remember the exact temps, but there have been a few times where it has snowed one day and got into the 70s a few days later

Roadgeekteen

Probably when I was in Hawaii, and I went to Maunu Kea.
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ce929wax

Mine is probably when I flew from DFW in December of 2000 to GRR.  It was in the low 50s in DFW and when I got to GRR it was in the teens and lake effect snow.


Flint1979

Living in Michigan there might be many ties involved.

ozarkman417

#13
In December 2017, I flew from 90 degree or so NE Florida to 20 degree SW Missouri.


GaryV


SectorZ

A low temp of -11 degrees, followed by a high of 59 four days later in Feb. 2016, is the best gap I've seen living where I do now.

Ben114


Bruce

This weekend is a fairly big one for the normally-temperate weather here: going from 60s to 80s to 60s again.

JayhawkCO

#18
One set of flights.  Was in the Bolivian rainforest in a town called Rurrenabaque where it was 95°.  Flew through La Paz to a town called Uyuni in the southern part of the country that had a low of 15° the night we arrived.  80° in about 4 hours.

For a longer time period (still within a week), Denver has definitely gone from 10° to 80°. 

michravera

Quote from: Max Rockatansky on May 07, 2020, 12:37:29 PM
Doesn't have to be the same place, but those instances would be pretty notable if they are extreme.  For me back in January of 2013 I experienced -14F weather during a morning drive from Cedar City, Utah west to Great Basin National Park.  Seven days later I experienced 94F weather on the Rio Grande River at Big Bend National Park.

I've definitely flown through JFK from Rio on the way back to LA in February. One time my ex- and I even had a 20-hour stop over with a room. We went into town and needed winter coats. It was around 25F or so in New York after having had about 42C (108F), at least if you believe the temperature on all of the banks, the day before in Rio. Back in LA, it was more like mid 70s to low-80sF.

I have encountered similar differences after working in Seoul for several months (ending in January) where -15-20C (-4 to +5F) in the morning was common and heading immediately to Sint Marten where you wondered whether the thermometers that almost constantly showed 30C(86F) were broken. Although, I was almost always at the beach or the pool at the hottest times of the day, so I only saw the temperature in the late morning or and usually early evening to early morning.

Without involving three continents, living in Sacramento, there is usually one week in late March, April, or early May where the air dries out from a recent storm and it goes from a high 42F and fog on to Sunny in the mid-90sF. I believe that it actually hit about 105F one May after frost (or maybe just "colder than ...") earlier in the week, but I could be mistaken about the extremes. Maybe it was only "lows in the high 40s to highs in the low 90s", but you get the idea.

I do remember that on May 15, 1990, at about 9PM, I observed light snow in South Lake Tahoe as I left from an after work round trip to get back to Sacramento where it had been mid 80s earlier in the day.

Flint1979

Quote from: GaryV on May 08, 2020, 07:38:00 AM
Quote from: Flint1979 on May 08, 2020, 12:43:42 AM
Living in Michigan there might be many ties involved.

You mean like this week?
It's a good example. It was in the 30's yesterday in Cadillac it even snowed. Wasn't it in the 70's last weekend?

frankenroad

Quote from: Flint1979 on May 08, 2020, 12:43:42 AM
Living in Michigan there might be many ties involved.

One summer (I think 1968) we were in the UP and it was 91 - uncharacteristically hot, even for July.   A front came through and within a couple hours it was 41.
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MikeTheActuary

A couple of years ago, I had a meeting in Montréal on Monday (low temperature ~-15°F), and a meeting in San Antonio, TX on Wednesday (high temperature ~80°F)....

Admittedly, not probably not quite the experience the OP was looking for, but it was a rough week for me.

CNGL-Leudimin

Not sure for a week long, but I've been through days with lows around freezing and highs at about 70 °F.
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Flint1979

Quote from: frankenroad on May 09, 2020, 04:56:32 PM
Quote from: Flint1979 on May 08, 2020, 12:43:42 AM
Living in Michigan there might be many ties involved.

One summer (I think 1968) we were in the UP and it was 91 - uncharacteristically hot, even for July.   A front came through and within a couple hours it was 41.
Its almost like your in Canada the way the weather is.



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