If You Don’t Like the Weather, Move to Spearfish
It’s been cold, eh? But when it comes to weather, things can change — and fast. As the writer and humorist Mark Twain once said, “If you don’t like the weather in New England, just wait a few minutes.” But New England has nothing on Spearfish, South Dakota.
On January 22, 1943, at 7:32 in the morning, the temperature in Spearfish zoomed from four degrees below zero to 45 degrees above zero in only two minutes, blowing the small midwestern town straight from winter to spring in less time than it would take to unlace your snow boots. It was the most dramatic temperature increase on record. Then, 90 minutes later, the temp crashed back to four below. The drop was much less sudden. That took all of 27 minutes.
As bizarre as the event was, the cause is completely understood. During those brief few minutes of relatively warm air, a Chinook blew through. Chinooks are warm, dry winds that blow down the eastern sides of mountains in the Rockies, usually toward the end of winter. Similar winds happen all over the world and go by several different names. In California they’re called Santa Anas. In the Alps, they’re called föhns. Chinooks and their cousins typically cause rapid temperature changes, though usually nothing as rapid or extreme as what happened that morning in South Dakota.
The abrupt though brief visit from spring made an impression on the people of Spearfish. The town began holding a weeklong event to commemorate the phenomenon, and the festival still takes place every year. They call it Chinook Days.
’til next time,
Avery
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