Cold temperatures and a brisk wind created for sub zero wind chill temperatures Monday morning across most of Iowa. The featured chart looks into the frequency of having a wind speed of at least 10 knot (~12 MPH) for a given air temperature during January for Ames. The signal shown nicely illustrates the relationship between the two with the most interesting things happening at the temperature extremes. For the warmest temperatures, the frequency increases as the typical weather pattern needed to support such elevated temperatures involves the transport of warmer air masses from the south and mixing down of warmer air aloft. For the coldest temperatures, the micro-climate of the station favors "cold air drainage" situations, which usually need reduced wind speeds. There are also situations when transport of arctic air is involved, so frequencies do not necessarily go to zero at the coldest of temperatures.

Voting:
Good = 7
Bad = 0