John,

Yesterday in the northern burbs of Chicago we had a huge swing in temps. According to our weather station at 4:00pm it was 48.5 deg at 4:30am -4.5deg and 30+ mph winds (-47.5 wind chill). Question is in the grand scheme of things is a 50+ deg temp change in 12 hours a big deal, possibly record breaking or not such a major event?

I am not answering for John, but I think I remember that the largest swing in a 24 hour period is 100 degrees somewhere in Montana. I think it was 60 to -40. But again that is in 24 hours, not 12. I am sure John will chime in with further iofo.

John,
along the same line of Scot b's question, do wild temp swings always result in the high winds we experienced last evening?
-Scott

Good memory 1000.

The link I had to that info has changed. See #8 for 12 hr.

I did find some info that Loma, MT now holds the record at a 103°F swing, from -43°F to 49°F.

Scott, Twice in 25 years for Chicago - see Jan. 29 entry


existing records (scroll down)

Rest up John. Busy weekend

Thanks for the help everyone. Things are busy and I am a bit slow on the draw to respond right now.

-John

Average Joe,

Thanks for the info. What key word did you use to find the NWS sites? I had done a few searches prior to posting this.

Scott,
I use the search box provided on the NWS, NOAA, or NCDC websites. For something like this I would put in greatest temperature change or extreme weather. They are great places to start surfing. Learn to read the URL's that are provided in the results.

I also like to use domain-specific and U.S. Government searches through Google™'s advanced searches. I avoid using the regular Google™ search engine since it usually has too much commercial site results. I want reliable sources.

I've just started using USASearch.gov. It seems to give some interesting results. I like it better than Google™.

I usually read T.S.'s weather blog daily. Tom and Frank usually come up with some interesting facts.

Happy surfing.
Joe