#5 story of 2014: "Polar vortex" keeps Decorah cold all winter

(This story got our vote for #5 story of 2014):

Decorah weather observer Richard Bernatz determines the severity of winters in Decorah by using 15 weighted measures.

He has plugged in all those figures from November 1st through March 31st and has determined the winter of 2013-2014 was the 7th most severe out of the 118 winters for which there are records.

Here are some individual numbers that make the case that this has been a severe winter:

--We had 48 days with below zero temperatures--twice the average.  The most is 59 days in 1916-1917, with only one other winter having more below zero days.

--We had 44 days with high temperatures below 20 degrees--more than twice the average.

--We had 132 days with temperatures below 50 degrees--the second longest streak in Decorah.