Found out my neighborhood's wind chill record hit 47 below back in '89

I was digging through old newspaper archives at the library last weekend, looking up random weather stuff. Found this stat from the local paper dated January 1989, said the wind chill hit 47 below zero right on my street. That's wild because I always thought our town barely got that cold, even in winter. Makes you wonder how people even survived without modern heating back then... Has anyone else stumbled on weird weather records for their own area?

2 comments

2 Comments

fisher.reese8h ago

47 below is absolutely brutal. My grandfather lived through that same January 1989 in northern Minnesota and he said the frost on the inside of their windows was a quarter inch thick. They had a wood stove and just camped out in the living room for three days straight because the bedrooms were basically unlivable. Makes modern heating feel like a miracle for sure. Did the original article mention if anyone in your town got frostbite during that cold snap?

brianm278h ago

Yeah that frost on the windows story is wild. Stay safe out there.