Baby it's cold outside

Over a weekend of life-threatening cold that saw weather warnings issued across most of the lower 48, local records were broken as the temperature kept right on dropping.

The bitter temperatures were caused by Arctic air migrating down from Canada. Wind chills were low enough at times for frostbite to affect exposed skin within five to ten minutes.

The lowest wind chills in Crook County were recorded on Saturday morning, just after 5 a.m., when Sundance and the area east of Pine Haven saw chills at -57 degrees F. The actual temperature in Sundance at that time was -39 degrees.

Hulett fared little better, with wind chills of -56 degrees F around 8:35 a.m., while Beulah recorded -55 degrees F just before 6 a.m. Just north of Pine Haven, wind chills were recorded at -49 degrees F at 5:38 a.m., while -48 degrees F was recorded in Pine Haven itself a little before that time.

The National Weather Service reported a new record for daily minimum temperatures on three consecutive days. On January 12, the low of -18 degrees F broke the 1997 record of -16 degrees; on January 13, the low of -21 degrees F beat the 1972 record of -16, while the high of -7 degrees F broke 1950's record of 0 degrees; on January 14, the low of -23 degrees F was previously recorded in 1979.

In this region, the most significant wind chill was recorded ten miles west of Jewel Cave in South Dakota on Saturday morning at -71 degrees F.

This side of the border, the lowest recorded wind chill was -65 degrees F at Four Corners at 5:22 a.m. on Saturday.

Despite a little relief as everyone returned to work after the holiday, the National Weather Service is watching for another Arctic blast late this week, which could result in more of the same dangerously cold weather across the Midwest and Deep South.