The Dramatic 11/11/1911 Cold front

The Dramatic 11/11/1911 Cold Front

A cold front moved through the central part of United States on Saturday, November 11, 1911 causing one of the most dramatic temperature drops ever recorded over such a large area of the United States.   An excerpt from the annual climatological report written by the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Weather Bureau (the predecessor to today's National Weather Service) described the front like this:  "The fall in temperature on the 11th was remarkable; the maximum temperatures up to about 2 pm were of summer heat, but by 7 p.m. over most of the Section (Missouri), freezing conditions obtained.  As a rule the fall was 50° in less than three hours; and 65° to 70° in eighteen to twenty-four hours; in many instances there was a fall of 25° to 30° in the first twenty minutes.  The cold wave was immediately preceded by typical thunderstorm conditions; some local damage was done by both wind and hail. 

Table 1 shows that the high had climbed up to 78° in St. Louis and 82° at Columbia ahead of the cold front on the  11th.  Temperatures had fallen into the teens just before midnight, and then to around 10° the next morning.  The low of 13° still stands as the daily record low at Columbia, and the high of 82° has never been exceeded (it was tied in 1949).  The low of 18° at St. Louis on the 11th has only been tied, but the high reached  85° in 1989.  The daily record lows on the 12th at both Columbia and St. Louis have never been equalled. 

Another Weather Bureau report noted:  "In St. Louis the temperature was 75° at 6:10 pm on the 11th, when the change began, and in 10 minutes it had fallen to 49°, and by 1 a.m on the 12th it had fallen to 17°." 

Table 2. lists additional reports from cooperative observers across central and eastern Missouri and adjacent sections of Illinois.  The high temperatures are from November 11th and the lows are from the 12th.  These numbers document the remarkable 60-70° change that occurred over the two day period.  The reports also showed that there were thunderstorms that caused high winds and hail followed by up to 2" of sleet and snow.

The cooperative observer from St. Louis University station noted: "Coldest 12th of Nov. on record in St. Louis.  A drop of 64 degrees in 24 hours.  A man died from the effects of heat on the 11th, and within another 12 hours another man succumbed to the cold.  On the 11th dandelions were blooming and yellow butterflies fluttering about." 

The observer in St. Charles reported this about thunderstorm damage that occurred when the front passed through the area:  "Church steeple in St. Charles was blown down, several homes unroofed, and trees broken off.  One windmill twisted off in county about 2 1/2 miles west of St. Charles."

Related Articles:

The Missouri State Climatologist, Pat Guinan, has an excellent article about how this event affected Missouri.  More information can be found at:  http://www.climate.missouri.edu/news/arc/nov2009.php