"(I'm not applying this argument to what's happening in parts of North America, because my impression is that that's a more rare cold event.)"
I found neat graphics and few people are nerdy enough to care but I finally get to share them! Everything's in Fahrenheit and inches, sorry, but the numbers don't matter as much as the patterns. This is Chicago O'Hare Airport weather records.
The top part of the graph is daily temps and the bottom part is annual cumulative precipitation (which is why that one only goes up). The navy blue is the actual recorded temp for each given date over a background that shows averages and historical highs and lows. The big chunk of olive green in 2016 and 2017 is indicating below-normal snowfall. (But 2017 also had above average precipitation so it wasn't a lack of water falling from the sky, it just happened to be above freezing more of those days.) You'll note that the most recent dip (chart 4) was definitely the coldest mark for these four years (and one of those days, I think, set a record for being the coldest in ten years… note that it wasn't the coldest ever just the coldest in ten years. Also, note that it wasn't even remotely out of line with those light-blue record-low marks. The actual recorded temperature always bounces up and down, including many colder-than-average days but there have also been many more warmer-than-average days.
No argument that the recent cold snap to hit North America was, to use the specific Chicago term for it, fucking cold, but part of what made it such a shock was that it followed a warmer-than-average December so I literally couldn't find my gloves while running out the door because I haven't needed them in so long.
cool graphics & chicago weather
I found neat graphics and few people are nerdy enough to care but I finally get to share them! Everything's in Fahrenheit and inches, sorry, but the numbers don't matter as much as the patterns. This is Chicago O'Hare Airport weather records.
The top part of the graph is daily temps and the bottom part is annual cumulative precipitation (which is why that one only goes up). The navy blue is the actual recorded temp for each given date over a background that shows averages and historical highs and lows. The big chunk of olive green in 2016 and 2017 is indicating below-normal snowfall. (But 2017 also had above average precipitation so it wasn't a lack of water falling from the sky, it just happened to be above freezing more of those days.) You'll note that the most recent dip (chart 4) was definitely the coldest mark for these four years (and one of those days, I think, set a record for being the coldest in ten years… note that it wasn't the coldest ever just the coldest in ten years. Also, note that it wasn't even remotely out of line with those light-blue record-low marks. The actual recorded temperature always bounces up and down, including many colder-than-average days but there have also been many more warmer-than-average days.
No argument that the recent cold snap to hit North America was, to use the specific Chicago term for it, fucking cold, but part of what made it such a shock was that it followed a warmer-than-average December so I literally couldn't find my gloves while running out the door because I haven't needed them in so long.