Autumn Weather Review
What should we make of continued record cold and snow conditions around the world?
‘‘Greenland registered a surface ice gain of 10 Gigatons - unprecedented for the time of the year’’
DISCLAIMER: An imbalance in weather reporting has, in my opinion, reinforced the impression that we are accelerating towards a cow-fart and coal-induced climate catastrophe. So, as with all of my seasonal weather reviews, I intentionally focus on weather events that register at the bottom of the bulb.
I have included almost 40 teeth-chattering examples of record-breaking cold weather reports from around the world between September and November, 2022.
Perhaps see if you can pick out your home country or favorite holiday destination!?
Skip to the end of my previous seasonal weather review to find out why (in my humble opinion), while some have been enjoying warm and mild conditions, many others have been experiencing bone-crunching, ski-season extending, cold and snowy weather.
Pour yourself a nice (warm!) cup of tea.. and if you find it interesting, please don’t forget to hit the share and subscribe buttons, and of course you can follow me on Twitter for more bite-sized insights and Atlas Report updates.
September
Minsk, Belarus and Kaliningrad, Russia; had their earliest frosts in recorded history in the first week of September.
Christchurch, New Zealand; had it’s second-lowest September temperature since records began in 1954 (-4.7 Celsius), just a whisker from the coldest-ever low (-4.8 Celsius) set in 2020.
Boise, Idaho, USA; reported a new record low temperature (4.4 Celsius), breaking the previous record set in 2010 (5.6 Celsius).
Russell, Kansas, USA; set a record low (6.1 Celsius) breaking the previous record set in 2007 (7.2 Celsius).
Castell’Alfero, Italy; had the area’s coldest ever reading prior to the Autumn equinox (1.8 Celsius).
De Bilt, Netherlands; experienced the coldest ever September 18th (13.3 Celsius) breaking the previous low for that day set back in 1962.
Capanna Margherita in Monte Rosa, Italy; set the coldest-ever temperature record for the 17th September (-21.2 Celsius), becoming the earliest-ever sub -20 Celsius in history at that location.
Greenland; registered a surface ice gain of 10 Gigatons - unprecedented for the time of the year.
Vovousa, Greece; experienced the lowest temperature ever (-1.6 Celsius) recorded in an inhabited region of the country during the month of September.
Central Europe; Austria, Switzerland, Germany experienced overall September temperatures between 0.4 and 0.8 Celsius below the long-term averages.
Scandinavia; Sweden, Finland, Denmark, Norway all experienced overall September temperatures between 0.4 and 1 Celsius below their long-term averages.
The Baltics; Latvia, Estonia and Lithuania fell well below their long-term average September temperatures by more than than 2 Celsius.
October
New Zealand; coldest October temperatures ever recorded at their respective met stations at Taumarunui, Rotorua, Hamilton, New Plymouth and Whitianga with temperatures ranging from -4.2 Celsius to -0.3 Celsius.
Christchurch, New Zealand; experienced its first sea-level October snow since 1969.
Shenyang, China; saw the second-earliest settling snow since records began more than a century ago, and just 1 day shy of the absolute earliest snow ever recorded.
Macquarie Island, Australia; experienced the island’s coldest ever temperature (-6 Celsius), comfortably breaking the previous record (-4.6 Celsius) set back in 1969.
Delhi, India; The maximum temperature in Delhi (23.4 Celsius) dropped to more than 10 Celsius below the seasonal norm (33.8 Celsius).
Greenland; logged unprecedented daily ‘Surface Mass Balance’ gains of more than 7 gigatons when compared with data extending back to 1981.
Cincinnati, Ohio, USA; was one of many locations across the US that saw record snowfalls, having its the earliest snowfall on records rivaling previous records set in 1905 and 1921.
Florida, USA; had numerous locations that experienced their earliest ever freezes including Crestview, Cross City and Tallahasee.
Georgia, USA; had multiple earliest freezes in recorded history at locations including Suches, Blairville and Macon.
Kolkata, India; saw it’s temperature drop to 19.6 Celsius, making it the city’s coldest October reading in decades.
November
Alberta, Canada; on a single day in early November 33 places broke daytime low records including Sundre which dropped to -32 Celsius, shaving more than 10 degrees off it’s previous record.
California, USA: Mammoth Mountain ended up under more than 5 feet of snow after an early season storm brought one of the largest November snowfalls on record to the region.
Saskatchewan, Canada; four record cold temperatures were broken across the province in Nipawin, Outlook, Rosetown and Kindersely all of which had stood since since 1945. Saskatoon tied it’s previous cold record (-28 Celsius) which had stood for 120 years!
Nevada, USA; a 102 year old snowfall record was broken in the city of Elko with an unprecedented 3.3 inches breaking the previous 2 inches benchmark.
Antarctica; in mid-November Concordia reached -59.7 Celsius, beating the previous record for the day (-57 Celsius set just last year); the following day was even colder, at -60.2 Celsius!
Kansas, USA; Wichita saw a 135-year snowfall record fall which had stood since records began way back in 1888.
Victoria, Australia; Mount Hotham’s mid-November low of -7 Celsius was the lowest November temperature ever record in the state of Victoria, beating the 2006 record.
New York State, USA; Erie County experienced its largest-ever amount of snowfall in a 24-hour period (in any month) in the second-half of November.
Massachusetts, USA; Watertown picked up 61 inches of snow over a late-November weekend, the largest 2-day snowfall event in the city’s history comfortably surpassing the previous record of 46 inches set December 1995.
Texas, USA; On November 18, Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport received its earliest snowfall in recorded history.
Mumbai, India; dropped to 17 Celsius, almost 5 Celsius below the average, and the city’s lowest November reading in since 2016.
Xinjiang, China; was engulfed by a harsh ‘cold wave’ where the coldest reading since 1987 was seen (-48.6 Celsius), and not far off the lowest November temperature ever recorded in China (the -50.7 Celsius set in Xinjiang, 1987).
West Africa; monthly lows fell in multiple countries, including Benin, Togo, Chad, Burkina Faso, Mali, Cote Ivoire, Nigeria, and perhaps most impressively in Niger (with just 6.9 Celsius recorded).
Sydney, Australia; the city failed to reach 30 Celsius for the first time in three decades, and some western suburbs, including Penrith, failed to hit 30 Celsius in spring for the first time in recorded history.
Antarctica; Both the South Pole Station and Vostok registered their coldest Novembers in 35 years at -40.4 Celsius and -44.3 Celsius, respectively.
Beijing, China; the Chinese capital dropped to -10.8 Celsius at the end of November, the lowest November reading since 1970 while in Tianjin, located 150 km to the southeast, a new all-time November low was set (-11.7 Celsius).
Wrap-up Warm Folks!
As ever, there were no shortage of examples of cold and snow records being toppled from pretty much all corners of the globe this Autumn.
I will finish with one thought which is really starting to bug me every time I see stories of record heat hitting the news alongside some warning about our impending climate catastrophe:
If record heat and drought represents climate change, what do record cold and snow conditions represent?!
-T