Minus 30! And loving it!

Well ‘Oscar Outlook,’ our little home weather station couldn’t handle this morning’s bitter cold (Friday). Like the dash thermometers in minivans and SUVs, it bottomed out at minus 22 or so and then just started flashing dashed lines. Larry Weber, my neighbor (a ‘country neighbor’ about 5 miles away) recorded minus 28 but that was well before dawn…and other nearby cities like Moose Lake hit minus 33, so it is a safe bet that we were minus 30 too. I love it! I’ll take minus 30 and sun over 40 above in winter.

What were the real world effects of such temperatures? In the photo and video above, I demonstrate the instant vaporization of heated water that occurs at temps below minus 20. The water explodes into vapor with an audible hiss.

If you happened to step outside in the predawn darkness, like I did, you’d also hear ‘trees popping.’ Yes, trees do pop—sometimes like gunshots—but more often like firecrackers. This sound is created by the fact that interior sap is freezing and expanding as the wood is contracting until something gives. Every few seconds I hear another pop. Maple trees are especially susceptible to this as they are near the northern edge of their range anyway. When folks talk about ‘frost cracks’ in maples, this is what has caused them.

I did go out and shoot a bit. A cooperative flock of Pine Grosbeaks in the Wrenshall City Park let me approach quite close (an upcoming post). I shot them until I couldn’t feel my middle two fingers (which have been frostbit/nipped many times).

How cold was it? The ‘winner’ was International Falls with minus 46 degrees—a new record cold for this date and fifth coldest ever recorded there. Minnesota’s official all-time record low is minus 60 at Tower on February 2nd, 1996…Unofficially it was minus 64 at Embarrass on the same day.

THE FOLLOWING ARE OBSERVED LOW TEMPERATURES THROUGH 900 AM FRIDAY JANUARY 21, 2011. TEMPERATURES ARE IN DEGREES FAHRENHEIT.

TEMP LOCATION
—- —————
-46 INTERNATIONAL FALLS
-46 BABBITT
-43 EMBARRASS
-43 BIGFORK
-43 ASH LAKE
-43 EFFIE
-40 LITTLEFORK
-40 BIRCHDALE
-39 ORR
-38 MINONG
-38 CASS LAKE
-38 SQUAW LAKE
-38 CUTFOOT
-38 BOVEY
-38 KABETOGAMA
-38 CRANE LAKE
-37 MARGIE
-37 HILL CITY
-37 ELY
-37 RICE LAKE
-36 LONG LAKE
-36 JACOBSON
-36 BARNES
-36 COTTON
-36 MAKINEN
-36 LONGVILLE
-36 PINE RIVER
-36 SEAGULL LAKE
-36 WRIGHT
-35 LAKE VERMILION
-35 KABETOGAMA
-34 MCGRATH
-34 ASH RIVER
-34 GUNFLINT LAKE
-34 HAYWARD
-34 LIND
-34 MOOSE LAKE
-33 GRAND RAPIDS
-33 SAGINAW
-33 COHASSET
-33 MCGREGOR
-33 AITKIN
-33 HIBBING
-33 JENKINS
-33 EMILY
-33 BRAINERD
-33 MOOSE LAKE
-33 SOUTH RANGE
-32 GRANTSBURG
-31 SILVER BAY
-31 TWO HARBORS
-31 LEADER
-31 DEER RIVER
-31 SIREN
-31 GRANTSBURG
-31 HINCKLEY
-30 BREEZY POINT
-30 TUCKER LAKE
-30 GLIDDEN
-30 GORDON