The winter of 2013-2014 is moving up the charts

This winter is gaining more prominence in the Decorah weather books.

With an official low temperature of -18 on Tuesday morning, 9 of the first 11 days of February in Decorah have had lows temperatures below zero.

Decorah weather observer Richard Bernatz says a below zero temperature minimum has been recorded in Decorah for 36 days from November 1st of 2013 through February 11th of 2014.  Says Bernatz, "You need to go back to the infamous winters of 1977 and 1978 to find the number of below zero days surpassing 36."

The winters of 1978 and 1977 rank as the first and second most severe winters for Decorah over the 120 years of record-keeping. The winter of 1978 (Dec 1978-Feb1979) recorded 43 days of lows below zero, while the winter of 1977 (Dec 1977-Feb1978) recorded 47 days of lows below zero.

That means if Decorah gets another seven days of lows below zero in February, the winter of 2013-2014 will tie for second place on the list of years with most lows below zero.