A Record Low And Non-Record Snow

Some weather related info here.  Yeah you're probably getting sick of all the posts about snow and cold and whatnot, but either propose some other topics (and they'll be taken under advisement) or deal with it.

It turns out that Blizzard Alvin, our Christmas Day gift from the weather gods, while a tremendous blizzard in its own right, was not a record.  The Grand Forks Herald did a thorough search of the historical record and found a larger snowstorm in 1966, and another in 1996 that preceded the huge floods in Grand Forks.  Why it took several days to discover something that happened in 1996 is beyond me, but we won't focus on that.  The other snowstorms were something like 31 and 27 inches respectively, so Blizzard Alvin likely ranks a solid third in "biggest snow events in Grand Forks history".

In other weather news.  Last night was a record low for this date, -35 degrees at the airport, breaking the old record of -27 degrees.  Now mind you, this is just the air temperature, no wind chill is factored in.  It was -35 degrees overnight and I can tell you that it was darn cold.  By the time we got up in the morning and took this picture (around 8:30 am), it had warmed to about -26 (see photo below).

Even though it's sunny, the thermometer says that it's a bit chilly outside.

So what does one do when it gets chilly outside?  You find a comfy chair, get a nice warm dog on your lap, cover up with a flannel shirt, and hunker down for a nice nap.