Revisiting Bizarre Weather From KELOLAND 75 Years Ago
Brian Karstens reports:
It's a piece of KELOLAND weather history that landed it's way into headlines 75 years ago. So bizarre, it even made "Ripley's Believe it or Not" at the time.
We never shy away from extreme weather in KELOLAND. Even the weather this week has been up and down from below zero to mid 60s for highs. But nothing compares to the temperature extremes recorded in the Black Hills region on January 22, 1943.
The unique weather pattern had been building for a few days. Extreme cold, arctic air was in place across the northern plains, including Rapid City which had been experiencing 20 below zero morning lows. Meanwhile, mild Pacific air was rushing eastward toward the Black Hills, setting up volatile clash of air masses.
On the morning of January 22, the Spearfish temperature rose from -4 to 45 in 2 minutes. Not 2 days, 2 minutes! 2 hours later, the mercury fell from 54 to 4 below in 27 minutes. Rapid City also had a similar change over the course of 20 minutes around 9:30 a.m., with a temperature shift of 49 degrees.
The temperature gages at the old Montana-Dakota Utility company logged the whole event, one for the history books still talked about 75 years later.
The effects of the fast change in weather lead to strange events. Plate glass windows cracked and motorists were shocked by the sudden thick frost formations on the their wind shields. An odd footnote in our weather history.