The worst of our record cold has passed … at least for now

Posted By on January 8, 2014

FEBRUARY 1904: Frozen Ohio River. Anyone up for a brisk stroll could walk the OHio River in 1904 and agin in 1977. Durting those years, the winter weather was so cold, for sucha a long time, the river froze. The Ohio wasn't rock solid from surface to riverbed. But the freeze was long enough - 56 days during the winter of 1903-04 - and thick enought - 12 inches on January 19, 1977 - for daredevils to walk from Cincinnati to Covington. And back.
The Enquirer/Helen Drahman
CAPTION INFORMATION TAKED FROM "CINCINNATI MOMENTS" PAGE 12According to Ohio River watchers, the “formation of river ice is rare” and has happened in only 14 winters of the last 140 years of record keeping in Cincinnati. For some the recent cold temperatures has triggered memories from 1977 and 1978. Photos from the past and stories of the river freezing over due to the extended extreme cold and low river flow have been published in the paper and talked about on TV (see the 1904 photos from retro.c).  One major difference this time around is that the low temperature dip has been short lived. In 1977 the long term cold spell kept temperatures below freezing for more than 20 days … this time it looks like only a few days.

tempsjan5-8

Our recent cold “polar vortex(an early choice for banished words and phrases) was certainly bitter cold but we are headed back up at the moment and most likely above freezing for the weekend. Wednesday’s temperatures will rise back above the single digits and are currently above the single digits and minus degrees of Monday and Tuesday. I was shocked to see Taylor’s temps in North Dakota higher than ours yesteday!

Here’s infographic from my Twitter feed (credit @allisonsimages ) on extreme cold. (click for larger).

IMG_2462

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