Distinctly Montana Magazine

25 w w w. d i s t i n c t l y m o n t a n a . c o m The Billings office of the NWS similarly con- firmed that "January 2024 was the first month on record in which Bill- ings observed 3 days with sub-zero highs and 4 days reaching 60°F." For transplanted Mon- tanans, initial exposure to our extreme winter weather can be analogized as baptism by bliz- zard, i.e., the undeniable realization that, when Old Man Winter focuses his attention squarely on the Treasure State, he frequent- ly does so with a fury unmatched in the lower 48. Fortunately, such encounters rarely exact the tolls suffered by members of the 13th Infantry on March 24, 1869. Recently transferred from east- ern garrisons, companies B, D, and H were in transit from Fort Benton to Fort Shaw when they were struck by a short-lived but powerful blizzard, one that claimed the lives of 17 troopers in H Company. Its storied past firmly establishes Montana as the gold stan- dard for extreme winter weather in the contiguous United States. Excluding Alaska, temperatures -60°F (or below) have been corroborated on only 17 occasions, seven of which were reported in Montana. This subset includes the four coldest tem- peratures ever recorded in the lower 48, capped by the all-time low, which was observed near Rogers Pass on January 20, 1954. Conditions at this site, located at an elevation of 5,470 feet, were then ideal for maximal radiational cooling. Seven days of virtually continuous snowfall had increased snow depth from 8 inches to 66 inches. After peaking at -18°F on January 19th, the skies cleared, winds subsid- ed, and the temperature plummeted. At approx- imately 2 a.m., H. M. Kleinschmidt, an NWS cooperative observ- er, recorded exceptionally low temperature readings from his personal and official thermometers. The Weather Bureau's In- strument Division later tested the accuracy and performance of both devices; their analysis revealed that a new record (-69.7°F) had been set at Rogers Pass. University of Montana researchers Rick and Susie Graetz conclude, however, that "there's a good chance that, by 6 a.m., it was significantly colder. So, we were close to and may have even tied the U.S. national record of mi- nus 80 established at Fort Yukon in Alaska." Such bitterly cold temperatures were occasionally matched or even surpassed by the speed and magnitude of temperature changes that occurred immediately before these record-break- ing observations. On Christmas Eve, 1924, conditions at Fair- field, located near Freezeout Lake, changed from shirtsleeve to buffalo-robe weather in 12 hours, during which the temperature dropped from 63°F at noon to -21°F by midnight. This 84-degree difference is the most precipitous plunge in temperature record- ed for a comparable time period in the United States. However, on January 23-24, 1916, Browning experienced the most severe temperature drop recorded anywhere on earth, when the tem- perature plummeted precisely 100 degrees, from 44°F to -56°F, in approximately 18 hours. So, how does the natural world respond to rapid onset of ex- -70° ROGERS PASS, MT -61° FORT LOGAN, MT -61° FORT KEOGH, MT -66° RIVERSIDE RANGER STATION, MT -63° MORAN, WY -69° PETER SINK, UT -62° MIDDLE SINK, UT -61° MAYBELL, CO -60° TAYLOR PARK, CO -63° POPLAR RIVER, MT places in the lower 48 states reading -60°F or colder -60° PARSHALL, ND -60° TOWER, MN

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