January 2014 vs. January 1977 in Cincinnati - A Clear "Winner"

Those of us who have been around a while longer then the average American love to tell stories of the brutal winters that visited Cincinnati in 1976-1977 and the following winter of 1977-1978.

I swore I would not do it, that is tell stories about the hardships of my younger days and how soft the younger generations have become. My dad did it and I rolled my eyes and shrugged it off as another fish story. No, I would never do it.

The moral of this story is never say never. So here we go.

It is important to remember that it has been about 20 years since we have had a very cold January in Cincinnati.

January 1994 was a nondescript month  until an arctic air mass arrived on the 14th.  By the morning of the 18th the temperature was -20°F (-28.8°C) and the next day the low temperature was tied for the second coldest ever at -24°F (-31.1°C).

January 1994 had cold episodes,  87 hours that month were 0°F or colder and there was a streak during the arctic outbreak of 48 consecutive hours zero or colder (18th Midnight - 20th 11PM).

The arctic air went its way and by the 23rd the low was 32°F (0°C).
The graph shows a typical January interrupted by a brief, but impressive record-setting arctic outbreak.

What we have to remember is that this is the coldest air in Cincinnati during the life of anyone 20 years of age or younger. So January 2014 is the yardstick (oops, meter stick) by which they measure winter severity.

With ice slabs floating down the Ohio River everyone wanted to know if the river would freeze solid from shore to shore again. But it was not to be because when it comes to temperature 2014 was a minor league month compared to January 1977, the coldest month ever in Cincinnati.

Here is a great source of photos of the frozen Ohio:

FROZEN OHIO RIVER PHOTOS


The next graph shows the hourly temperatures for both January 2014 and 1977 and following that is a graph of the difference, January 1977 was colder than January 2014 when the bars are below zero.

In short there is no comparison. January 1977 is the coldest month in Cincinnati weather history and january 2014 is way down the list.

Here are some numbers that will convince you. Notice only 2 hours the entire month of January 1977 were warmer than freezing.

HOURS 0° OR COLDER	NUMBER	% OF MONTH
1977	138	18.5
2014	67	9.0
HOURS > 32°
1977	2	0.3
2014	261	35.1
AVERAGE OF HOURLY TEMPS
1977	12.8
2014	23.5
CONSECUTIVE HOURS <= 0°
1977	71	9.5
2014	27	3.6
CONSECUTIVE HOURS <= 32°
1977	615	82.7
	126	16.9
2014	50	6.7
	84	11.3
	110	14.8
	107	14.4
	21	2.8
	89	12.0