Fickle Weather

Montana is famous for vacillating and extreme temperatures. 

Montana lays claim to the coldest temperature recorded in the contiguous United States.  On January 20, 1954, the temperature fell to -70 °F at Roger’s Pass.  The pass is only an hour drive from my house.

The hottest temperature ever recorded in Montana is 117 °F.   This occurred twice.  Once in Glendive on July 20, 1893, and then again at Medicine Lake on July 5, 1937.

The most dramatic swing in temperature over a 24-hour period in the United Sates occurred on January 15, 1972, in Loma, Montana, when the temperature rose from −54 °F to 49 °F.  That’s a 103 °F change in readings.

On January 11, 1980, a warm chinook impulse at the Great Falls International Airport promoted a 47 °F rise in temperature in only 7 minutes.

Yesterday, I happened to find myself driving across our valley floor as a mass of warm air swept through.  In a matter of three miles, my car registered a change from 19 °F to 42 °F.  The rapid rise in temperature triggered snow to slide from the metal roof of a building as I sat in a parking lot watching.  The change in weather also brought forth a beautiful sky.  I took the opportunity to capture an image of my house under the big Montana sky once I arrived back home.

 

—Mitchell Hegman