Just why did it get so cold this morning

LJWorld.com weblogs Lawrence Weather Watch

Posted by Ashley Meenen

October 7, 2009 at 9:23 a.m.

If you stepped out the door this morning, you probably noticed our morning lows were pretty chilly; freezing for some. Both Manhattan and Lawrence hit freezing this morning, and for Manhattan, the freezing temperatures were maintained for a few hours.

You’ll occasionally hear us mention Manhattan and Lawrence are typically cooler in the morning, due to the fact the official readings both come from airports which sit in a “valley.” Typically, you would see cooler temperatures in the valley. This is because the cool, dense air moves down slope at night.

Why so cold? The perfect ingredients for a cold night are clear skies and calm winds. This morning was the perfect example of this. We had clear skies across northeast Kansas; however winds this morning in Concordia ranged from 5 to 10 mph, which kept the morning lows from falling below 40 degrees. In Topeka, we had light to calm winds and our lows fell to 33. Similarly in Lawrence and Manhattan, the calm winds allowed the lows to dip right to that freezing mark.

Morning lows in these cases can be tricky to forecast. Last night models indicated winds would be around 5 to 15. If the winds were 5 to 15 mph as anticipated, Manhattan and Lawrence would have been similar to Concordia, a few degrees away from the freezing mark, but not quite there.

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somedude20 6 years, 11 months ago

Q:"Just why did it get so cold this morning"

A: ummm..cause the seasons are changing and winter is coming?

Alexander Neighbors 6 years, 11 months ago

Q:”Just why did it get so cold this morning”

A: Hell has just froze over

countrygirl 6 years, 11 months ago

Sunday sounds like it's going to be cold and wet. Good day to stay in!

bondmen 6 years, 11 months ago

Two guesses. Either it's because of 'global warming' or it's George W. Bush's fault.

Some might go so far as to say it's both!

puddleglum 6 years, 11 months ago

both global warming and bush's fault.

Jock Navels 6 years, 11 months ago

no, rumsfield's fault...you go into the new season with the weather you've got.

jonas_opines 6 years, 11 months ago

It's global bush warming's fault. Damn bushes, sucking up all the heat for themselves.

thepianoman 6 years, 11 months ago

Sorry, this is such a pointless, meaningless entry....It got cold because it's that time of the year...big DUH.......That's like writing a blog on why the sun is out today......LOL.

Curtis Lange 6 years, 11 months ago

Mmm, first talk of snow in the forecast as well. Heard it here first: We WILL see our first flakes by the end of the month.

mom_of_three 6 years, 11 months ago

Doesn't it usually get colder in October, cause my allergies disappear?

meggers 6 years, 11 months ago

thepianoman,

I suspect the article was written to explain why a frost advisory wasn't issued last night. Not that such an explanation is of much consolation to the poor, dead flowers.

The better question might be "Just why did the JW weather people kill all of the flowers?" ;)

kansasmutt 6 years, 11 months ago

I know why it got so cold, the temprature droped. 29* to the east of Lawrence.

Gareth Skarka 6 years, 11 months ago

Yet again, Shrewmon and the rest of the know-nothings display their ignorance.

Once more, for the hard-of-thinking: Global Warming = bizarre weather swings in ALL directions, because it screws up the natural regulating effect that the oceans have on weather, by screwing up the ocean temps.

See, kids? Science! It's cleverly hidden in these things called "books." You should try reading them, instead of banning them.