The week opened and closed with bitterly cold conditions in
place across the North Central States. On December 10,
Glasgow, MT noted a high of -9°F and a low of -24°F, both
records for the date. A day later, Rapid City, SD noted a daily-
record low of -19°F, following their longest period without sub-
zero temperatures on record (705 days, from January 5, 1999 to
December 9, 2000). By Tuesday, frigid air overspread the
northern Rockies, Plains, and Midwest in the wake of a major
storm system, producing record lows in locations such as
Bozeman, MT (-27°F), Aberdeen, SD (-25°F), Chadron, NE
(-24°F), and Waterloo, IA (-15°F). Sub-zero readings were
reported as far east as northern Indiana, where South Bend
registered -6°F.
Another blast of cold air reached the Plains and Midwest
toward week's end. On Saturday, wind chill temperatures fell
below -30°F as far south as southern Kansas. Two days
earlier, on December 14, Wichita, KS had noted a low of 0°F,
their lowest temperatures since a low of 0°F on December 22,
1998. Wichita's most recent sub-zero reading was observed on
February 4, 1996, when the low was -7°F. Between cold snaps,
temperatures remained below 0°F for 81 hours in a row
(December 10-13) in Duluth, MN and 117 consecutive hours
(December 9-14) in Aberdeen, SD. Duluth's record remains
nearly 12 consecutive days in January 1912, while Aberdeen's
remains more than 18 days in February 1936.