Cold Sets Records in 4 States--Colorado Gets 17-Inch Snowfall

The record cold air refrigerating the northern Rockies and Plains intensified Wednesday, with the mercury at Butte, Mont., dropping to 12 degrees below zero, the earliest below-zero reading there on record.

Along with the cold, which set records in four states, up to 17 inches of snow fell on Colorado, and North Dakota was still clearing roads after a 14-inch snowfall earlier in the week.

“It just doesn’t make sense,” said Dean Vorland, superintendent of schools at New Rockford, N.D., where classes were canceled Wednesday because not enough roads were open for buses.

23 Degrees Below Record

Butte’s low, coldest in the 48 contiguous states, chipped a full 23 degrees off the city’s former record for Oct. 9, the National Weather Service said. It was the earliest below-zero reading in the mile-high mining city along the Continental Divide since 1894, when officials started keeping records.

The coldest point in the nation Tuesday was Cut Bank, Mont., with a mere 8 degrees.

Record lows elsewhere included 30 at Portland, Ore., 7 degrees below the old record; 19 at Boise, Ida., and 4 at Williston, N.D.

In Montana, “just about every station we have has had a record low this morning,” said weather service specialist Dan Klinger in Great Falls.

Temperatures of Minus 1

It was 8 below zero in Wisdom, south of Butte, and Cut Bank and Jordan in central Montana reported temperatures of minus 1, while Lewistown had zero.

Havre had a low of 1 degree Wednesday, 18 degrees off a record on the books since 1932, the weather service said. On Tuesday, Havre’s low of 17 tied a record for that date that had stood since 1898.

Colorado was not as cold, but in the northwestern corner of the state 17 inches of snow fell at Hayden, with a foot at Craig and Meeker.

Snow also extended across parts of eastern and southern Wyoming, northern Colorado, western Nebraska and the Dakotas, and freezing drizzle iced roads from southeastern Wyoming through northwestern Kansas, the weather service said.