Syzdekistan

Things have been warming up here slowly. There is still ice in the gutters and on swimming pools. At work a large section of the parking lot is roped off because there is a large patch of ice. I’ve actually seen people spreading on sidewalks (wouldn’t be easier to turn off your sprinklers?)

Yesterday and today, I have been helping with razorback sucker surveys on Lake Mead. Yesterday was not too cold. We were near Echo Bay in a protected cove. The wind was whipping up the whitecaps on the Overton Arm but it was almost windless in the protected Echo Bay. I don’t know what the temperatures were but with the wind blowing in the area it was probably a bit warmer due to the mixing of colder surface air with warmer air aloft (the ground on still, clear nights rapidly radiates heat into space and the air close to the ground gets cold. Windy nights don’t allow the air to cool as much).

Today was a different story. It was totally windless and that made it a lot colder. It was 24° when we set off from the Overton Beach Marina for sampling near the inflows of the Virgin and Muddy Rivers. Water temperature was 46°. When we pulled in the nets, the water froze as it hit the air. The deck of the boat became slick with ice and icicles hung from the rails. Besides some cold hands and feet, the lack of wind and some hard work untangling carp and pulling in nets kept us warm. Engine problems made for a short day so we weren’t out there too long. It was a lot more fun than cold and when we finished it had warmed up to 27°.

We found no razorbacks today but last week six were caught, tagged, measured, and released.

Here are some facts from the National Weather Service about the cold snap:

Statement as of 2:45 PM PST on January 17, 2007

… Public information statement…

… Information on the recent Las Vegas cold snap…

During the week of January 10th a large Arctic high pressure moved into northern Nevada and brought significant temperature drops across the state. Many areas across northern Nevada saw some of the coldest temperatures since 2002 and many places across southern Nevada saw their coldest temperatures since 1990. In Elko Nevada… the high temperature reached 43 degrees on the 10th and by the 13th the high was 11 degrees. Similarly in Ely Nevada the high temperature on the 10th reached 48 degrees and on the 12th the high only reached 11 degrees. Overnight lows also fell to record or near record levels with minus 16 degrees in Elko and minus 19 degrees in Ely on the morning of the 13th. The coldest official spot in the state was Wildhorse Reservoir which recorded a low of minus 28 degrees on the 13th… although two unofficial sites recorded a low of minus 31 degrees.

In Las Vegas… high temperatures made a significant drop from 63 degrees on the 11th to 36 degrees on the 13th. The coldest reading in Las Vegas occurred on the morning of the 14th when the temperature dropped to 23 degrees… although several places around the valley fell into the upper teens. Along with the cold temperatures hundreds of homeowners reported burst water pipes causing a significant amount of damage. Many places around the Las Vegas Valley reported snow showers on the 12th with some of the higher foothills receiving a dusting. In Lincoln County… Pioche received around a foot of snow on the 12th and 13th.

Some significant Las Vegas figures

Date high low average
1/12 45 29 37
1/13 36 26 31
1/14 39 23 31
1/15 45 26 36
1/16 49 25 37
1/17 28

6 consecutive days with low temperatures in the 20s. This is the longest streak since December 20 1990 – January 2 1991 (14 days).

2 consecutive days with high temperatures in the 30s. This is the longest streak since December 1990.

First time Las Vegas recorded an average daily temperature below freezing since December 30 1990.

The low temperature of 23 degrees was the coldest temperature since January 31 2002.

The high temperature of 36 degrees on the 13th was the 30th coldest high temperature on record and the first time since January 15 1997 that Las Vegas recorded a high temperature in the 30s.

The high temperature of 39 degrees on the 14th broke the previous record of 42 degrees for the coldest high temperature on that date.

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