2015-10-09

Authors: Chip Redmond, Mary Knapp

At this time of the year, freezing temperatures are of interest. Questions arise as to how cold did it get, and how long the temperatures were below freezing. To answer these questions, the Kansas mesonet on K-State’s Weather Data Library web site has launched a new product called Freeze Monitor.

The Freeze Monitor page shows a map of the lowest temperatures reported at the mesonet locations in the last 24 hours. In addition to the map, the page includes a table with the lowest reading, the number of hours below freezing, and autumn freeze climatology. The climatology shows the average, earliest, and latest dates for the first 32 degrees F reading at each location.

These dates are based on the period of record for the National Weather Service (NWS) Coop station nearest the mesonet towers. For some of our earliest mesonet sites, such as Hays, Colby, Tribune, and Parsons, the mesonet towers and the NWS Coop stations are side-by-side. Observations from mesonet stations on both the map and chart are updated every five minutes.

The Freeze Monitor is at: ksu.ag/1j8NlID

Chip Redmond, Weather Data Library
christopherredmond@ksu.edu

Mary Knapp, Weather Data Library
mknapp@ksu.edu