February 5, 1885: A Cold Wave Continued "to Roll over the Land"
The GFS Ensemble forecast for February 16 shows a deep, cold upper-air trough centered close by.
/ Courtesy of Weather Bell and Ryan Maue
On February 5, 1885 it reached 28 degrees below zero in Ishpeming. A local newspaper reporter, acknowledging the persistence of the cold, wrote that the cold wave continued to "roll across the land." February 1885, like its counterpart the year before, actually averaged colder than January, finishing at 6.7 degrees versus 7.4 degrees in January.
Excessive snow accompanied the cold. Even in southern sections like Escanaba there was “more snow than anyone desires.” In the northern snow belts a huge cover accumulated by the beginning of February. Lumbermen around Ishpeming complained about the deep snow. “Roads had to be made for every stick of lumber hauled” as snow depths approached four and even five feet in the woods. Grand Marais turned in similar depths and the reporter added the following qualifier to avoid accusations of exaggeration: “This is not a romance, but the result of actual measurement.”
No romance here when I state that February 2013 has started COLD. Through yesterday, the mean temperature at the National Weather Service (NWS) is running nearly 14 degrees below average. This is largely due to cold nights. Each of the first six nights has been below zero; and the NWS recorded 13 below again early this morning. Temperatures will moderate over the next several days. However, there appears to be some cold winter weather waiting in the wings. Above is the Global Forecast System (GFS) ensemble forecast 10 days from now showing a deep trough centered over the Great Lakes with strong ridging over the Yukon and southern Greenland. If this forecast is correct, some very cold air will likely invade our area just after Valentine’s Day.
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