Extreme cold temperatures expected overnight

Tools

A Flash player error has occurred, please make sure you have the latest Adobe Flash Player. Click here for a free download of the latest Adobe Flash Player.

By Rich Rogers rrogers@nbcaugusta.com

Story Published: Jan 13, 2009 at 4:30 PM EST

Story Updated: Jan 16, 2009 at 11:27 PM EST

AUGUSTA, Ga. - An arctic outbreak could bring the coldest air in the Augusta area in nearly 25 years.

A strong area of high pressure moved southeast out of Canada late Wednesday. Lows Thursday morning ranged from -44 degrees in Bismarck, ND to -27 at Spencer, IA. Early this morning, Waterloo, Iowa tied its all-time record low of -34. Detroit established a new record low for the date at -15. The heart of the coldest air will move over the Mid-Atlantic Saturday morning.

We expect a record low of 9 degrees on Saturday morning. The old record for January 17 is 11 degrees, set in 1977.

If Augusta's temperature drops to 9 degrees or below Saturday morning, it will be the coldest weather the area has experienced since the major arctic outbreak of Jan. 20-21, 1985. Back then, the lows were 8 and -1. That set the all-time record low for Augusta.

A year later, on Jan. 28, 1986, a low of 10 was recorded.

Other unusually cold benchmarks are listed below:

Dec. 9, 2006: 15
Jan. 24, 2005: 12
Feb. 5, 1996: 11

In other words, a low temperature of 12 to 14 would make for the coldest weather since 2005. A low of 11 would be the coldest since 1996, a low of 10 the coldest since 1986, and anything from -1 to 9 would be the coldest since 1985.

The last time temperatures fell into the teens in Augusta was as recently as Nov. 22, 2008, when the low reached 18 degrees.

It's a good idea to let your faucets drip during the night when temperatures get this cold. Also, you may want to cover any exposed exterior faucets and unhook garden hoses until the extreme cold weather has passed.

User Agreement

View comments

The following comments do not necessarily represent the views of NBC Augusta 26| news, weather, sports, community, entertainment, shopping for Augusta, Georgia. Users have agreed to these terms and in doing so accept full responsibility for their comments. Moderation is limited.

Add a comment

Name:

Comment: 500 Characters Left

WAGT and its affiliated companies are not responsible for the content of comments posted or for anything arising out of use of the above comments or other interaction among the users. Comments are posted on site immediately and without station moderation. If you feel a comment is inappropriate you may flag it for review. For guidelines on flagging comments see our Terms & Conditions. We reserve the right to screen, refuse to post, remove or edit user-generated content at any time and for any or no reason in our absolute and sole discretion without prior notice, although we have no duty to do so or to monitor any Public Forum.

I have read and agree to the terms

Hide comments

More Good Stuff

WAGT Weather

Click here for 7 Day Forecast
Icon
Current Temp 37.0 °F
Fair
More Weather

WAGT Weather

YouNews

This content requires the latest Adobe Flash Player and a browser with JavaScript enabled. Click here for a free download of the latest Adobe Flash Player.

On Demand

NBC Augusta 26 RSS FeedsNBC Augusta 26 Twitter Feed NBC Augusta 26 Facebook Page NBC Full Shows Online

Viewer Poll

Who do you want to win the World Series?

  • New York Yankees
  • Philadelphia Phillies
  • I don't care