How Crazy Was The Winter Of 1950?

How Crazy Was The Winter Of 1950?

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Story Published: Jan 19, 2004 at 7:50 AM PST

Story Updated: Mar 13, 2008 at 12:13 PM PST

By Steve Pool

SEATTLE - The recent cold snap was some of the coldest weather we had seen in a few years, but get these numbers; 6,6,8,9,7,7,6,7,0,1,8,8. They sound like Olympic diving scores or something, but in fact, those are a sample of our January and February record lows -- all from 1950.

By far and away the harshest winter ever in Seattle, the average temperature for the entire season was 34.4 degrees. Jan. 13, 1950 had 20 inches of snow combined with winds of 25-40 mph, making it the second greatest one-day snow in Seattle (Feb. 1, 1916 is the champ at 21.5"). The month had 18 days where the high temperatures were below freezing, and 13 of our 18 record lows below 10 degrees were in 1950.

1950 also is the champ for the two coldest days ever -- 0 and 1 degrees on Jan. 31 and Feb 1. Brrr!

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