12th Straight Day of Big Chill : Rockies, Plains Punished by Snow and Extreme Cold

Snow and unrelenting subzero temperatures punished the nation from the Rockies through the Plains for the 12th straight day Friday, prompting one record keeper to call it the worst sustained cold he had seen in 40 years.

Record lows were shattered in seven Western and Midwestern cities, including Bismarck, N.D., where the mercury dipped to 30 below. Friday’s records followed 11 record lows on Thanksgiving.

West Virginians who suffered severe flooding last month were forced to flee once again as heavy rains brought rivers up to flood stage.

Snow was widespread over the Pacific Northwest and the northern Midwest Friday afternoon. Travelers’ advisories were issued from southeast Oregon to Colorado.

Near-Blizzard Conditions

A winter storm warning was posted for parts of Montana, where forecasters predicted subzero temperatures accompanied by gusting winds of up to 40 m.p.h. that would cause near-blizzard conditions and a wind chill as low as 50 degrees below zero.

Huron, S.D., had its snowiest November on record with 28.4 inches through Thursday. The 11 inches of snow on the ground at Boise, Ida., was the most recorded at any one time during any November.

The bitter cold has Nebraskans wondering if they have not entered the next ice age. The state low Friday was four below zero at Ainsworth.

“I’ve been taking weather records for nearly 20 years and my father for 20 years before that,” Gerry Osborn, Ainsworth postmaster and an observer for the National Weather Service, said. “I have no recall of the sustained cold we have experienced here.” Since Nov. 8, temperatures have risen above freezing only twice, and in nine of the past 10 days, Ainsworth has recorded subzero lows.

Nation’s Icebox

It was a record 28 below in International Falls, Minn., a city that has earned a reputation as the nation’s icebox.

“Nobody really looks at it as a hardship. We dress for it. Everybody probably has at least two or three pairs of long underwear. . . . It’s inconvenient to get up early and put on a couple of layers of clothing. But we see it as part of the changing seasons in the area,” said Tom Klein, editor of the Daily Journal in International Falls.

Snow dusted the upper Midwest, with four inches falling in upper Michigan. Light snow lingered over portions of northern New England, although temperatures climbed to near or above the freezing mark, and travelers’ advisories were canceled in the area.

In West Virginia, the floodwaters were not as high or fast as they were four weeks ago, but heavy Thanksgiving Day rains still swelled rivers to near or just over their banks. As many as 200 people were forced to leave their homes.