As another powerful cold front swept through Richland County this week, many people bundled up and prepared for what is being considered by many as the second “polar vortex.”
According to the National Weather Service, temperatures in Mansfield on Friday, Jan. 24 topped at 11 degrees, with the coldest temperatures around -2 degrees. The normal high temperature for Mansfield on Jan. 24 is 33 degrees. The record cold for Jan. 24 happened 51 years ago, when on a particularly chilly Thursday in 1963 the temperature measured -20 degrees.
This week’s cold chill prompted a Winter Weather Advisory for Richland County, as wind chill temperatures were expected between -5 and -15 degrees for Friday afternoon and evening. School districts called for a long weekend all across the county due to prolonged exposure to the cold known to cause frostbite and hypothermia.
While the current arctic temperatures may not be considered a “polar vortex,” they are the coldest temperatures the county has seen in almost seven years. According to meteorologist Brian Mitchell of the National Weather Service, in almost half a century there have been only nine periods of three consecutive days where the temperatures remained in the single digits.
“When you have three days in a row where the temperature did not reach 10 degrees, that’s considered extreme,” said Mitchell.
According to Mitchell, the last period of three consecutive cold days occurred in February of 2007. Before that, the last cold snap was in January of 1997. Going back through the years, periods of three consecutive cold days were recorded in February of 1996, January of 1994, January of 1984, December of 1983, January of 1977, January of 1970, and January of 1966.
The freezing weather of 2014 has contrasted greatly with weather patterns only one year ago.
According to data from the National Weather Service, January of 2013 recorded three record-high temperatures in Mansfield, with 58 degrees on Jan. 11, 61 degrees on Jan. 12, and 62 degrees on Jan. 30. In addition, while February of 2007 saw consecutive days of bitter temperatures, January of 2006 was measured as the warmest month from 1916 to present day, with temperatures for the month averaging at 37.1 degrees. January of 1977 was measured as the coldest month from 1916 to present day, with temperatures for the month averaging at 8.7 degrees.
With such a variation in temperatures from one year to the next, Mitchell said the reasoning for a cold streak is still relatively unknown, other than just the normal cycle and timing of weather patterns.
“It can fluctuate; looking at the data the last one was 2007 and then another one ten years before that,” he said. “You could get a couple years in a row, then maybe go five to ten years before you get another pattern. We’re getting better computer models and research, so hopefully things are gradually making progress and trying to figure out exactly what’s going on.”
While Mitchell hesitated to classify the most recent weather patterns as a “polar vortex,” he explained that the significant drop in temperature comes from a very strong cold front out of Canada. Mitchell cited the sudden drop in temperature from 33 degrees the morning of January 6, 2014 to -11 degrees the night of January 6 as an example of the affects of the cold front.
“It’s cold air that has been sitting up over the arctic regions, and it can at any point break off and come down,” he said. “There was just a significant amount of it that came down this time.”
“It’s cold air that has been sitting up over the arctic regions, and it can at any point break off and come down,” said Brian Mitchell, “There was just a significant amount of it that came down this time.”
