The world's greatest variance in temperature, according to the Guinness Book of Records, belongs to the Black Hills. It happened on a frozen Spearfish morning in 1943, with the thermometer at a bone chilling minus four degrees. That's when the temperature shot up 49 degrees in less than 2 minutes. So rapid was the shift in temperature that plate glass windows cracked at locations throughout town. The phenomenon was the result of a freakish Chinook wind. The Indians called the wind "snow eater," but never before or since has a Chinook brought such temperature contrast.
This famous Chinook was unpredictable. Its winds swept over Lead, where thermometers rocketed to 52 degrees. But it missed Deadwood, less than three miles away, and that historic city still shivered in 16-below-zero weather.
The bizarre weather of January 22nd also invaded Rapid City. At mid-morning downtown Rapid City's temperature was near zero while the Canyon Lake neighborhood basked in 55 degrees. Motorists crossing from the "ice box" zone to a warmer part of town were forced to pull over-their windshields instantly obscured by a peculiar frost.
Even at the same location, the mercury would oscillate wildly. Montana-Dakota Utility's printout thermometer went from 9 degrees to 57 degrees to degrees between 10:30 and 11:00 a.m. By noon the reading was back up to 60 degrees.
Here's part of what the Rapid City Journal said the next day: "The phenomenon was striking at the Alex Johnson Hotel corner at 11 a.m. On the East Side of the hotel, winter was in all it's glory, biting legs and faces, while around the corner on the south side, not 50 feet away, spring held sway."
10/01/03