Cold snap breaks local records

The bitterly cold air that settled across this region for around ten days has led to a number of new record low temperatures, according to statistics released by the National Weather Service.

This includes record-breaking lows in Crook County. At Devils Tower, the previous record temperature for February 13 was -20 degrees Fahrenheit, which was set in 2007. This was beaten by the -29 degrees recorded on February 13 this year.

The Devils Tower area also saw its February 15 low temperature record matched. The original record of -24 degrees was also set in 2007.

The oldest record broken during the cold snap was in Fort Meade, where the -13 degree record set in 1906 was replaced by a new record low of -21 on February 14. The lowest temperature recorded by the National Weather service was -40 degrees on both February 14 and 15 in Lodgepole, SD, which broke the records of -21 set on February 14, 2020 and -25 set on February 15, 2019.

The cold air originated in the Arctic region and lasted for approximately ten days. It finally came to an end on Monday morning, making the temperatures of between 0 and 20 degrees over the next couple of days seem as tolerable as a warm summer afternoon.