At midnight on February 3, 2007 the temperature dropped to zero at the Twin Cities International Airport and stayed at or below zero through 2pm February 5, 2007. This is a stretch of 63 hours at or below zero. This is the longest stretch below zero since January 28-31, 2004 when the mercury stayed at or below zero for 82 consecutive hours. However, this current stretch is longer than the 49 consecutive hours of at or below zero that was reached on January 13-15 2005.
How long would a stretch of zero or below weather be to make the top ten list? The mercury would have to stay at or below zero for at least FOUR full calendar days to have a chance of making the list. The most modern stretch of at or below zero temperatures to make the top ten list was in January 1994.
Extended Periods Zero or Below (From 1891-2007) For Minneapolis/St. Paul Rank Time Began Time End Hours ----------------------------------------------- 1. 8pm Dec 31 1911 to 1pm Jan 8 1912 186* 2. 2am Jan 18 1963 to 2pm Jan 24 1963 157 3. 4pm Jan 21 1936 to 2pm Jan 27 1936 143 4. 3pm Jan 13 1994 to 1pm Jan 19 1994 142 5. 7am Jan 16 1970 to 2pm Jan 22 1970 140 6. 1am Feb 14 1936 to 1pm Feb 19 1936 133 7. 3am Jan 8 1977 to 1am Jan 13 1977 119 8. 6pm Jan 19 1935 to 12pm Jan 24 1935 115 9. 6pm Jan 8 1912 to 9am Jan 13 1912 112 9. 8pm Dec 17 1963 to 11am Dec 22 1963 112 (tie) *Note: If it weren't for 4 hours above zero the record would have been 311 hours from 8pm Dec 31 1911 to 10am Jan 13 1912.
The National Weather Service in Chanhassen posted a web article about the streak of below zero temperatures. Note that they focused on temperatures BELOW zero so that's why there are 61 hours in the streak of below zero temperatures for the Twin Cities.
Listed below is a statement on the Duluth below zero stretch courtesy the National Weather Service.
PUBLIC INFORMATION STATEMENT NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE 345 PM TUE FEB 6 2007 ...CONTINUOUS BELOW ZERO STRING ENDS AT DULUTH... THE TEMPERATURE DROPPED BELOW ZERO AT 6 PM FRIDAY FEBRUARY 2ND AND CONTINUED UNTIL 1 PM THIS AFTERNOON WHEN THE TEMPERATURE REACHED 1 ABOVE ZERO. THIS WAS A RUN OF 91 CONSECUTIVE HOURS BELOW ZERO. THIS IS THE LONGEST STREAK OF CONTINUOUS HOURS BELOW ZERO SINCE JANUARY 2005 WHEN WE HAD 119 HOURS BELOW ZERO FROM JANUARY 13TH TO JANUARY 18TH. THE RECORD FOR CONSECUTIVE HOURS BELOW ZERO IS 285 HOURS SET FROM JANUARY 1ST TO JANUARY 13TH IN 1912.