This week’s cold blast will go down in history

Several records were broken in Montgomery
It was colder in Montgomery than many cities across the Lower 48 Thursday morning.
It was colder in Montgomery than many cities across the Lower 48 Thursday morning.(WSFA 12 News)
Published: Oct. 20, 2022 at 11:04 AM CDT
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MONTGOMERY, Ala. (WSFA) - Whew! We made it through one of the all-time coldest shots of air to impact Alabama in October. Records were broken all across the state and eastern half of the country this week.

Montgomery has broken three records this week.
Montgomery has broken three records this week.(WSFA 12 News)

That includes Montgomery, which broke some impressive and longstanding records beginning back on Tuesday. Below is a list of the records Montgomery broke this week:

  • Tuesday, October 18th: broke the record for coldest high temperature (58°)
  • Wednesday, October 19th: broke the record for lowest temperature (32°)
  • Thursday, October 20th: broke the record for lowest temperature (29°)
  • Montgomery saw its earliest first freeze in recorded history on the 19th

Each of those is impressive in its own right, but the one that really jumps out is the earliest first fall freeze that happened on Wednesday. In the 150 years of recordkeeping in Montgomery, never has the temperature fallen to or below 32° this early!

Montgomery has set the record for earliest first freeze.
Montgomery has set the record for earliest first freeze.(WSFA 12 News)

The low of 29° Thursday morning is good for the earliest date in the fall that Montgomery has ever recorded a temperature in the 20s. The upper 20s and lower 30s came with plenty of frost too!

In case you’re curious, the average first freeze doesn’t occur until November 18th! That’s a week before Thanksgiving. Here we are more than 10 days away from Halloween with two consecutive freezing mornings!

Fortunately there aren’t any freezes in the forecast any time soon. Some middle and upper 30s are likely tonight, but then it’s all 40s and 50s for low temperatures for the foreseeable future.

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