This has perplexed me since I was 10.
How can there be a posted Hi and Low temp of 60 and 40 one day and then on the next day have the posted Hi be less then 40?
I would think that if it never got colder then 40 one day, the following day’s Hi temp would have to be at least 40, or maybe at mifnight temps can jump over numbers?
Thank you
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On the assumption this is relevant to the OP I offer the following statistic:
My dog-eared copy of The Guinness Book of Records (1991) tells me that the greatest variation recorded in one day is 100F. On 23/24 January 1916 at Browning, Montana, the temperature fell from 44F to -56F inside 24 hours. This fact illustrates what is possible regarding temperature differences from one day to the next.
The answer is, it can’t.
The forecast low might be 40 degrees, but if the *actual * low is 38 degrees and the temperature falls further the next day, then the high for the next day cannot be above 38.
If you’ve seen this before, it is probably due to the difference in the forecast and the actual temperature.
It might also depend on exactly when the temperatures are taken and how frequently.
If temperatures are only taken once every hour, for example, then a cold front moving through might produce a temperature of 40 at midnight and 38 at 1:00 am. Or even if only at ten minutes intervals, then the same if the times were 11:55 pm and 12:05 am.
As longer as the temperatures are not taken continually there is a chance that your scenario will happen.
I think generally the high, as expressed in your evening news weather forecast or the paper, is taken to be the highest temperature after daybreak. While the temperature at midnight sometimes might be technically the highest temperature of the day, it won’t be particularly useful if it is going to be significantly colder during the hours that most people are going to be out and about.
The coldest time of day is probably a bit after midnight anyways. The atmosphere takes time to cool off after sunset, and very cold temperatures many not happen until 2-4 in the morning.
http://weather.noaa.gov/weather/current/KMWN.html
This is a 24 hour chart from Mt Washington NH. At the current time the lowest temp in the past 24 hours is from 9:00 AM. But the temps kept dropping from midnight to 3 AM where they bottomed out. A cold front came through this morning and dropped temps even further. But midnight isn’t likely to be the coldest temperature reading so your premise seems flawed.