John Wheeler: It takes a perfect night for a record low

FARGO — The coldest of cold temperatures require extraordinary weather conditions. Most record lows in the winter are set when extremely cold air moves over our region in conjunction with a clear night when the snow cover is deep. Usually, the wind is calm or very light.

Because the “official” temperature of record is taken at Hector Airport on the north side of Fargo, a south wind brings to the thermometer air that has blown through the city, which heats it by several degrees, so our coldest nights are never with a south wind. Perfect conditions are rare at any location, and this is reflected in the lack of uniformity among the daily records. The all-time record low for Fargo Moorhead is -48 degrees set Jan.



8, 1887. The coldest at the Grand Forks airport since 1965 is -43 degrees set Jan. 30, 2004.

The coldest for the city of Grand Forks since 1893 is -43 degrees set Jan. 11, 1912..