| ELEMENT | GLENS FALLS | ALBANY |
|---|---|---|
WARMEST TEMP
|
66°/2007
|
57°/1966
|
WARMEST AVG.
|
57.5°/1950
|
46.5°/1966 and 1979
|
LOWEST TEMP
|
-7°/1957
|
-18°/1970
|
LOWEST AVG.
|
-18.5°/1994
|
-3.5°/1918
|
WETTEST
|
2.55"/1999
|
0.95"/1935
|
SNOWIEST
|
15.7"/1986
|
9.2"/1961
|
Temperature records go back to 1874 for Albany and 1944 for Glens Falls. Regarding snowfall for Glen's Falls, snow observations ceased at the site in 2003 when the site went to an automated observation system . However, I do not recall any heavy snow on New Year's Day since then.
New Year's Day 2018 Forecast
It will be frigid for both locations. In spite of abundant sunshine highs in Albany will be near 10° and for Glens Falls highs in the lower single numbers to near 5°. From the NWS in Albany, only 3 New Year's Day had a high temperature less than 10°. 2018 looks like it might be the 4th time for such an occurrence. In addition to the frigid air temperatures wind chills will make it feel colder thanks to a gusty NW wind. Daytime wind chill temperatures will range between -15° and -10°. The first night of 2018 will see readings to dip to -5° at Albany and -20° at Glens Falls which would be a record low temperature for this location.
Forecast for the rest of 1st week of 2018
A bit of thaw is expect during the Tuesday into early Thursday period. Highs will make it into the mid teens on Tuesday in both Albany and Glens Falls. On Wednesday even a bit more of warm-up low 20s for Albany and near 20° for Glens Falls. (Let's have a barbecue and breakout the shorts!). As for Thursday expect highs near 20 or low 20s in Albany and mid to upper teens for Glens Falls.
Also during Thursday through Friday a large storm is forecast to be moving north across the western Atlantic. At this time it looks like it will be too far east to cause us any significant snow.
However, the large circulation around the storm will cause a strong NW-N airflow to develop around its western perimeter. This flow of air will be from the arctic reaches of Canada so by the Friday into the next weekend we'll likely see (hard to believe) the coldest weather of this young winter season. It looks like more daytime highs in the digits or near 0 ° and widespread well below zero readings are likely during the nights. I can see the potential for readings near -20 to -25° Friday, Saturday and maybe next Sunday night at Glens Falls and across the Southern Adirondacks.
Deep Freeze
A deep freeze as defined by the National Weather Service is when the high temperature does not get above 32°. The longest stretch for Albany where the high never got past the freezing mark was 36 days. This deep freeze spanned the period from January 5 to February 9 in 1945. Temperatures records for Albany go back to 1874. During this time period there have been dozens of deep freezes of varying length. The number of deep freezes that met the minimum 10 consecutive days is 18; the last deep freeze was in 2014, from February 25th to March 6th.
The last time Albany got above 32 ° was on Christmas Day. So for Albany through the 31st of December it will be 6 days with a high temperature < 32°. Glens Falls is on a 7 day stretch. When you look ahead to the upcoming first week and weekend of 2018 and the expected temperatures, we can say with high confidence that we will be in a "Deep Freeze". This extreme cold could last into the following week, too.
Some longer range data indicates the possibility for a break around mid-January. By then we could see more seasonable temperatures. Something to look forward, to. Something I am not looking forward too is my heating bill that should be arriving this week!
References:
Climate date for New Year's Day and Deep Freeze dates courtesy of NWS Albany, NY
Climate date for New Year's Day and Deep Freeze dates courtesy of NWS Albany, NY
Climate Data for Glens Falls extracted from The Northeast regional Climate Center (NRCC)
database
Forecast maps from Weather Prediction Center (WPC)
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