This statement is from the NWS in Milwaukee concerning the “bomb” that passed through the Upper Midwest early this week (thanks to Randy Coleman to passing it along to us)…
Strong, Damaging Winds – 10/26 – 10/27
A record breaking low pressure system tracked northeast from the Central Plains on Monday, into Minnesota Monday night through Tuesday. This system broke the record for the lowest recorded pressure measured in Wisconsin, which was recorded at 11:35 AM at Superior with a measurement of 28.39 inches of mercury (961.3 millibars). The previous lowest pressure recorded in Wisconsin was 28.45 inches of mercury (963.4 millibars) at Green Bay on April 3 of 1982.
In addition to breaking the record in Wisconsin, this impressively strong low pressure system reached an unofficial pressure of 28.21 inches of mercury (955.2 millibars) late Tuesday afternoon in northern Minnesota near Bigfork.
A preliminary lowest pressure in a non-tropical storm in the mainland U.S. record may have been reached. The massive storm system barreling across the central U.S. had a minimum central pressure of 28.21″ or 955.2 mb (equivalent to the minimum pressure of a Category 3 hurricane). If confirmed, the 28.21″ will be lower than the 28.28″ (958 mb), set on Jan. 26, 1978, during the Blizzard of 1978 (aka the Cleveland Superbomb). This is also lower than the March 1993 Superstorm (aka “The Storm of the Century”), or the “Witch of November” storm that sank the Edmund Fitzgerald in 1975, or even the Columbus Day Storm of Oct. 1962.
