Weather: Coldest day in 5 years -27C below zero

January 21, 2005 is the coldest day that I have seen in almost 5 years in Kitchener/Waterloo, Ontario, Canada.

Although the Weather Channel on Cable TV said that it was -27C (with windchill, it is -36C), my thermometer only registered -25.7C as the lowest temperature.

On January 27, 2005, there were also record low temperatures for Kitchener/Waterloo. Environment Canada said that it was as low as -31.1C. My thermometer recorded only -25C. University of Waterloo Weather station recorded -30.5C. The KWARC VE3KSR station between Petersburg and Baden (a few minutes drive west of Kitchener Waterloo) recorded -22.3C at 8:50 am as the lowest temperature.

According to Environment Canada the lowest temperature recorded on January 21 in Kitchener Waterloo was -28.7C. KWARC VE3KSR recorded only -24.8C.

I have seen days with -24C before in past years, but nothing that low at all. For example, the University of Waterloo Weather station recorded -32C in January 2003. Also, most low temperature recordings happen at 3 am to 5 am in the morning. What is unusual is that this low temperature was after 8 am while I was preparing to leave.

You can check Kitchener Waterloo weather resources for all web sites that provide weather information for the two citices.

This is the indoor/outdoor thermometer. It shows the temperature outside is -25.6 below zero Celsius. A few minutes later, it registered -25.7, which is the lowest recorded so far for me.