STEVE'S WILD WORLD OF WEATHER...
When I'm wondering about weather folklore and historical events this is the man I go to. With more than 50 years of statistical and observational research, he's the dude! When it comes to lunar cycles, woolly bear caterpillars, insects, bugs, and animals, he tracks them, records them, and establishes ties to weather patterns. He's a knowledgeable and interesting man. His name is Steve Gottschalk by way of Lowden, Iowa. I'm grateful to him for lending his unique perspective to the site. Steve's "wild" world of weather can be found every Wednesday right
here on TSwails.com
NOVEMBER WEATHER CAN CHANGE IN THE BLINK OF AN EYE
BY STEVE GOTTSCHALK
BLUE NORTHER:
The weather can change very rapidly during the month of November from late springlike warmth with thunderstorms and tornadoes to subzero cold and blizzards.
A prime example was during the Great Blue Norther of November 11, 1911. During the late morning hours, Albia, Iowa was basking in 72 degree warmth. A strong cold front swept through during the afternoon with blizzard conditions and by 9 p.m. the temperature was down to 5 degrees, a fall of fall of 67 degrees in less than 12 hours.
At Keokuk, the change was even more drastic. Just after noon the thermometer stood at 79 degrees when the cold front came through dropping the temperature a full 37 degrees in one hour. An inch of sleet fell during the evening hours and by midnight the temperature was down to 14 degrees. The following day the high was 17.
Down in Springfield, Missouri the temperature rose to 80 degrees just after 3 p.m. The cold front swept through at 3:45 p.m. and the temperature fell nearly 40 degrees in 15 minutes. It was 21 degrees at 7 p.m. and 13 degrees at midnight. The winds gusted to 74 mph behind the front and rain, hail, sleet and snow fell for 2 hours.
The powerful storm system spawned some severe weather in the Midwest. At least 4 tornadoes of F-2 strength or greater occurred in the Iowa, Illinois and Wisconsin areas killing 11 persons and injuring another 71. An F-2 tornado tracked west and northwest of the Davenport area, an F-3 tornado touched down in Mason county, Illinois and the F-4 tornado at Janesville, Wisconsin killed 9 persons and injured another 50.
In Chicago, a man died of heat stroke on the 11th and on the following day, 2 persons froze to death.
IOWA"S LOWEST BAROMETRIC PRESSURE:
It was on November 10, 1998 that Iowa set it's all time lowest barometric pressure when mercury dropped to 28.54" at both Estherville and Spencer. The storm deposited 8.0" of snow at Sioux Center and created winds that gusted to 50 mph, statewide. The highest gust recorded was 70 mph at Oelwein.
NOVEMBER- ONE OF OUR CLOUDIEST MONTHS:
According to my records we average 15 cloudy days during the month of November. Since 2000 the average has fallen to 14 days. In 1992, Des Moines had only only 56.7 hours of sunshine during the entire month and Cedar Rapids had cloud cover 95% of the time during the daylight hours.
That's all for this week. On the "WILD" side of weather, I'm Steve Gottschalk
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