Friday, November 1, 2019

Utah sees record cold of -43.6 ºF – ‘Perhaps the lowest October temperature ever recorded’ in continental U.S. - for now....
























I've never heard of Peter Sinks before, but anyone who lives there should move.  That's just insane, kill you in ten minutes, cold.

But, it is Ice Age cold.  

Here's the Wikipedia page.  Apparently the sink is famous for cold.


Peter Sinks is located 8,100 feet (2,500 m) above sea level, in the Bear River Mountains east of Logan, within the Wasatch-Cache National Forest. Due to temperature inversions that trap cold nocturnal air, it routinely produces the coldest temperatures in the state. Even in the summer, the bottom of the sinkhole rarely goes four consecutive days without freezing. It is so cold near the bottom of the hole that trees are unable to grow.

On 1 February 1985, a temperature of −69.3 °F (−56.3 °C) was recorded there, the lowest recorded temperature in Utah, and the second-coldest temperature ever recorded in the continental United States.

Peter Sinks was discovered meteorologically by Utah State University student Zane Stephens in 1983.[2] Stephens, along with the Utah Climate Center, placed measuring instruments in the valley in the winter of 1984. On February 1, 1985, Peter Sinks dropped to −69.3 °F (−56.3 °C), while another nearby valley, Middle Sink, located 3 miles (4.8 km) to the north-east, dropped to −64 °F (−53 °C). Stephens hiked into Middle Sink to record the temperature personally. He then flew into Peter Sinks in a KUTV television station helicopter with broadcasting Meteorologist Mark Eubank. State Climatologist Gayle Bingham also traveled to the area and confirmed the temperature. The alcohol thermometer being used was retrieved and sent to the Bureau of Standards in Washington, D.C. to confirm the temperature.

Since 1985, Peter Sinks and Middle Sink have been studied extensively by Stephens and Tim Wright with the use of Campbell Scientific weather equipment. On January 29, 2002, the temperature dropped to −62 °F (−52 °C) at Middle Sink. Stephens and Wright's main study is the change in temperature through the inversion at these sites. These valleys act like a dam trapping cold air, with the coldest of the air settling to the bottom of the valley. Stephens and Wright have found that temperatures between the cold air "lake" and the warmer air above the valley can be different by as much as 70 °F (39 °C).





6 comments:

  1. That's cold, but with the coming ice age, who knows how cold it will get. Lay in a supply of firewood.

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  2. Looks like a good place for Greta Thunberg to avoid the searing temperatures of Glowball Warmening. It's almost as cold as her heart!

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  3. I've never heard of that location either. Google maps locates it pretty easily though. It does appear to be in a bowl with northern exposure, southern sun shade so that might be why it gets so cold there.

    -45 deg. - Brrrrr !!!!

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  4. totally believable. Cold Lake, Alberta, Canada gets down with the arctic cold. trained up there in 1973 and 76 for an assignment somewhere north of the end of land. recalled the long cold nights doing field training. never want to ever be that cold again in my life. while there in 73, the high for the day during a week long sojourn was -44C. burrowed into snow banks for the night, never wanted to know how cold it was at one am. Woof

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