Record-Breaking Weather
Tall tales and true have been told about the weather for as long as there have been people around to tell. Sorting the “tall” from the “true” is not easy–few records have been confirmed by reliable meteorological measurements. Systematic observations started only in 1814 when the Radcliffe Observatory in Oxford, began recording changes in the weather. IN the United States, daily records started in 1885 in an observatory in Milton, Massachusetts. This observatory–the Blue Hill–continues to keep meteorological records and itself holds the record for the longest for the longest continuously operating weather-observing station at the same location in the United States. Extremes of weather can be officially cited as records only if the weather station that recorded them has a long term set of weather measurements. Just how long I’m afraid is up for debate, but the general consensus is that at least 10 years’ of measurements are required before an extreme reading is declared to be record. The accurate records maintained by today’s weather stations across the world enable comparisons to be made and extremes of weather documented. Together, these extremes reveal the true power of the forces that contribute to our weather.
A WORLD OF EXTREMES
The highest air temperature ever recorded-admittedly questioned by some-was 136°F (57.8°C)at Al Aziziyah in Libya on September 13, 1922. At the opposite end of the scale is Vostok Base in Antarctica which has an annual average temperature of -72°F (-58°C). On July 21, 1983 it recorded the world lowest temperature, -128.6°F (-89.2°C). The most extreme temperature range occurs at Verkhoyansk in Siberia-down to -90°F (-68°C) in winter and up to 98°F (37°C) in summer. The record for the number of tornadoes is held by the northwest region of Colorado in the Great Plains of the United States with an average of 1.5 tornado days per year. Winds of up to 310 miles per hour (500 km/h) have been recorded. Strong winds are not confined to tornadoes. The highest non-tornado wind gust of 231 miles per hour (371 km/h) was recorded at Mount Washington, USA, on April 12, 1934. Stories of large hailstones are like tales of fish that got away: those that are collected and measured are always smaller than those that escaped. The largest authenticated hailstones fell in the Gopalganj district in Bangladesh on April 14th 1986 and killed 92 people. The record for the largest number of days of rain per year goes to Mount Waialeale, on the islands of Kauai in Hawaii, where rain falls on average 350 days a year. By contrast, the Atacama Desert in Chile is the worlds driest place, with effectively no rainfall at all.
Below I have mapped the extremes, please feel free to use the information on your website, forum or blog. We would appreciate a link back to southweather, as the information was typed by us and not copied from an online source.
A WORLD OF EXTREMES
The highest air temperature ever recorded-admittedly questioned by some-was 136°F (57.8°C)at Al Aziziyah in Libya on September 13, 1922. At the opposite end of the scale is Vostok Base in Antarctica which has an annual average temperature of -72°F (-58°C). On July 21, 1983 it recorded the world lowest temperature, -128.6°F (-89.2°C). The most extreme temperature range occurs at Verkhoyansk in Siberia-down to -90°F (-68°C) in winter and up to 98°F (37°C) in summer. The record for the number of tornadoes is held by the northwest region of Colorado in the Great Plains of the United States with an average of 1.5 tornado days per year. Winds of up to 310 miles per hour (500 km/h) have been recorded. Strong winds are not confined to tornadoes. The highest non-tornado wind gust of 231 miles per hour (371 km/h) was recorded at Mount Washington, USA, on April 12, 1934. Stories of large hailstones are like tales of fish that got away: those that are collected and measured are always smaller than those that escaped. The largest authenticated hailstones fell in the Gopalganj district in Bangladesh on April 14th 1986 and killed 92 people. The record for the largest number of days of rain per year goes to Mount Waialeale, on the islands of Kauai in Hawaii, where rain falls on average 350 days a year. By contrast, the Atacama Desert in Chile is the worlds driest place, with effectively no rainfall at all.
Below I have mapped the extremes, please feel free to use the information on your website, forum or blog. We would appreciate a link back to southweather, as the information was typed by us and not copied from an online source.
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