As we recognize the legacy of Martin Luther King, Jr. on January 21st, we can also take note of the variability of weather that comes with the date. On January 21st, Kansas has seen record warmth and record cold; record precipitation and record snow. The warmest reading was 84 oF at Liberal in 1986. Last year, while not as extreme, there were 15 record highs, the most of any year. On the cold side, the lowest minimum temperature was -19 °F at Colby in 1984. For snowfall, 2007 is the year of note. It didn’t have the HIGHEST total. That was 11” at Atchison in 1958. 2007 DID have 121 new daily records (the most of any year), and the highest record that year was 10” at Gove, in Gove County.
Mary Knapp, Weather Data Library
mknapp@ksu.edu