APXIL 1963 MOXTHLY WEATHER REVIEW 209 THE WEATHER AND CIRCULATION OF JANUARY 1963 One of the Most Severe Months on Record in the United States and Europe JAMES F. O'CONNOR Extended Forecast Branch, U.S. Weather Bureau, Washington, D.C. 1. INTRODUCTION January records were set at Honolulu for total rainfall, January 1963 was memorable for the extreme severity number of days with rain, and minimum temperature. of the cold weather which simultaneously gripped North Precipitation in the western United States continued America, Europe, and the Far East. the pattern of severe drought of the cold season. In Los In Europe it was one of the coldest months ever re- Bngeles, the winter produced only 0.72 in. of rain to the corded, resulting in shortages of coal and food due to end of January, compared to a normal 6.73 in. San paraIysis of Iand and water transport as snowdrifts Francisco had the longest dry period, 25 days, of any blocked roads and ports and waterways were blocked by January on record. In the Pacific Northwest precipita- ice or were completely frozen over. Shortages of water tion was also considerably below normal, with the least and gas also occurred as a result of damage by frost to snowfall in the mountains for any January in some places, exposed pipelines in normally milder climates. Many and snowpack considerably below normal in all sections. died or were hospitalized from exposure to the cold. Yakinia, Wash., had its only snow on the last day of the dverage teniperatures for the month were in excess of 9' F. month, 13.6 in., a record aniount for a 24-hr. period. below normal from southern England across Europe to the In northern California, Nevada, Idaho, and Oregon, Ur als . heavy rains in the last few days of the month helped One of the coldest regions, in terms of departure from alleviate the drought but brought destructive flooding to normal, was in Pdand, where Warsaw reported an some localities, especially Reno, Nev., where the Truckee average temperature of 9.7" F. for the month, or 18.5" F. River overflowed and frozen ground contributed to Aood- below normal. Farther west in Europe, Paris averaged ing of the downtown district. Flooding also occurred in 26.8* F., or 9.9' F. below normal. Not even the usually southeastern Idaho for the second time within a year. milder Mediterranean regions escaped the low tempera- Heavy snowfall occurred in a number of regions. tures, which averaged about 5' F. below nornial, or the Record amounts for January fell in parts of Montana, snowstorms which sometimes reached blizzard proportions, notably 28 in. at Billings and 42 in. at Missoula, the resulting in isolated villages and hardships in many places. second heaviest for any month in 71 years of record. In In the Far East, abnormal cold was accompanied by Wyoming, Sheridan received 24 in., also a record. It blizzards, notably in western Japan, where snowdrifts of snowed almost' every day in those localities after the 12 ft. in some districts paralyzed transportation and weather turned cold on the 9th. collapsed roofs. Soldiers and students were pressed into Blizzards of varying intensity occurred with each of five service to dig out trains and remove snow from roofs to outbreaks of Arctic air in the northern Rockies, while save schools and other structures. farther east they accompanied at least three. At Grand Rapids, Mich., for example, the first blizzard from the 12th 2. HIGHLIGHTS OF WEATHER IN THE UNITED STATES to the 14th brought 18 in. of snow. Another, on the 23d and 24th at Muskegon, Mich., climaxed a 6-day period of In this country, heavy snows and blizzards contributed heavy snow totaling about 35 in., following a fall of over to the severity of the weather in some areas, though the 18 in. during a 5-day period after the first outbreak. The most notable aspect was the persistent and extreme cold. monthly total of 42.6 in. at Grand Rapids was the heaviest It damaged or killed fruit trees in the West and citrus and since 1918, and the 64.7 in. at Muskegon was second only vegetable crops in the Southwest. Many died or were to the record 66.6 in. in January only a year ago. Snowfall hospitalized from frostbite and exposure. occurred on almost every day in the last 3 weeks at those In Alaska, after 9 days of cold early in the month, the cities. remainder of the month was extremely warm. Fairbanks The blizzard of the 23d and 24t'h hit other regions had the warmest January in 26 years and Kotzebue the farther east, especially in New York where Albany re- warmest on record. ceived over IO in., the second 10-in. snow in 4 days and the In Hawaii, the weather was stormy, with the lowest first such occurrence since 1891. Another blizzard on the average pressures on record at some locations. New 27th and 28th brought heavy snows again to many parts Unauthenticated | Downloaded 10/02/21 08:05 PM UTC 2 10 MONTHLY WEATHER REVIEW APRIL1963 FIGURE1.-Average contours of 700-mb. surface (tens of feet) for January 1963. Troughs (heavy solid lines) indicate minimum latitudes of contours. Outstanding features were the strong ridges in eastern Atlantic and Pacific. of the Northeast, such as Allentown, Pa., 7.4 in., and the heels of a severe cold wave in December, when the Pittsfield, Mass., and Syracuse, N.Y., 12 in. lowest temperatures of record occurred on the 12th and In parts of Ohio, January snowfall was more than twice 13th in Georgia and Florida, and the second coldest the normal although the monthly precipitation (water 'temperatures since February 1899 occurred elsewhere in equivalent) was one of the lowest on record for Jankry. that region [l]. The -6' F. temperature at Asheville, K.C., in December, which equaled their ulltime record 3. COMPARISON OF JANUARY 1963 low of 1905 was, however, exceeded this month by 1' F. WITH OTHER COLD MONTHS This was the second consecutive January that tempera- January 1963 was one of the coldest months on record tures averaged well below normal from coast to coast, in the United States. The cold spell this month came on although this month was far colder nationwide. It is Unauthenticated | Downloaded 10/02/21 08:05 PM UTC APRIL1063 Bfomr-ILY WEATHER REVIEW 21 1 rare to have any nionth with cold weathcr from coast to various localities in' that region. In coastal sections of coast, much less two in succeeding years. In January the Northeast this January was considerably warmer than 1962, the most severe cold wave since February 1899 February 1934, the coldest month in that section. occurred in the South [2] where new records for cold in It is noteworthy that of all the historic cold months January were established at Roswell, N. Mex., Midland, mentioned above, almost 25 percent of the alltime record Tex., and Baton Rouge, La. These were not exceeded in low temperatures (for any day) which still stand today January 1963, but the January mcan temperature this were established on the 12th and 13th of February 1899. year was lower at all three locations. But on the basis of average monthly temperatures country- On the basis of monthly mean temperatures, averagcd wide, that month does not appear as the coldest month for about 100 evenly distributed cities with records back at any of those cities. In fact, February 1899 now ranks to 1893, January 1963 tied with January 1940 as the behind the Januarys of 1918 (coldest), 1940 and 1963, second,coldest month in 70 years, with an average tem- 1930, 1912, and February 1936, in that order, as the 7th perature of 27' F. from coast to coast. Only January coldest month from coast to coast. 1918 was colder with 26.7' F. Since parts of the Far West in both 1918 and 1940 were warm (with respect to 4. THE ClRCULATION PATTERN IN MID-TROPOSPHERE normals for those periods as well as the present), but were cold this month, January 1963 might be considered The average circulation at 700 mb. in January 1963 the coldest month in 70 years on a countrywide basis. (fig. 1) was one of extreme amplification. The Low in Nevertheless, on a local and regional basis, this January the Pacific was far southeast of its usual position in the ranked well behind other historic cold months especially Sea of Okhotsk, and the trough normally about 10" west January 1918 and 1940 east of the Continental Divide. of Hawaii was much deeper and closer to the Islands. In the Midwest, this January ranked no higher than the This produced unusually storniy conditions with record 3d or 4th coldest month, behind January 1912 and 1918, low average pressures farther south near Hawaii. and February 1936. However, much of that region this In harmony with the deep Hawaiian trough, an enor- month had the greatest or second greatest number of niously amplified ridge was observed in the eastern Pacific, days on record with 0' F. or lower. Only the historic west of the usual position over western Canada. The cold spells of January 26-February 14, 1899 at Green Bay, eastern cell of the Pacific High was located farther north Wis., and January 13-February 21, 1936 in Nebraska, than normal by about<20" of latitude. Strong southerly South Dakota, and Minnesota were colder or longer. flow from Hawaii northward, in contrast to the usual In the Central Plains, where Grand Island, Nebr., had westerly flow there, brought the unusual warm spell to one of the large@ average temperature departures from Alaska in the last 3 weeks.