55 Years Ago: A 5-Day Stretch of Double Digit Below Temps

It's hard to think that in mid-January we're seeing temps in the low 40's here in Minnesota. We've seen cold winters, but 55-years ago it was downright wicked. Temperatures around Minnesota bottom out as low as -38 in some areas for a long period of time.

KSTP's Dave Dahl talked about the winter weather back in 1963:

"We get cold stretches around this time. The middle of January is the coldest time of the year on average. But those kinds of temperatures are pretty extreme."

On January 19th, 1963, St. Cloud recorded a low temp of -27 degrees and temperatures hovered around the same temp for 5 straight days. It's not the longest cold snap on record though -- on January 1st in 1912, near record cold lasted for 7-days.

It certainly has been a cold winter so far in Minnesota, even though you wouldn't think so by today's temp. If you're wondering...the coldest winter was the 1874-75 winter, with an average temperature of only 4 degrees above zero.

Enjoy the weather today and if you run into somebody who was old enough to live that in January of 1963, be sure and ask them about it. I'm sure they have their own story to tell.