Tuesday low temperature falls just short of record

By RALPH ANSAMI

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Ironwood - The thermometer had soared to a reading of 11-below in Ironwood as of 1 p.m. Tuesday, improving from an overnight low of 20-below.

With the wind-chill factored in, it felt more like 30-below, although the sun was shining brightly.

It was colder weather than Ironwood experienced all last winter.

The National Weather Service called for similar - but not quite as cold - weather today, with a high of minus-3.

The 20-below reading at the Gogebic-Iron Wastewater Treatment Plant along the Montreal River off U.S. 2 did not set a Dec. 26 record for Ironwood, as the low for the past 116 years was minus-22 in 2000.

The high for the 24-hour period to 7 a.m. Tuesday in Ironwood was minus-7.

For the 24-hour period to 7 a.m. on Dec. 25, before the bottom fell out of the mercury, Ironwood's high was 17 and low was 8-below, with two inches of festive, fluffy snow arriving on Christmas Day.

Weather conditions varied in even short distances on Christmas Day. While it was 10-below in Saxon with clear skies, nearby Little Girl's Point residents on the Lake Superior shoreline had cloudy skies, snow and readings of around zero.

Because December started off warm in Ironwood, the average temperature for the month as of Tuesday stood at 17.3 degrees and that was exactly equal to the long-term average.

For 2017, the average reading stands at 41 degrees, just above the long-tern norm of 40.5, according to the NWS office in Marquette.

From the Dakotas through Minnesota, Christmas was the coldest in 20 years.

Fargo posted a low of minus-18 and a high of -6. That wasn't as bad as in 1996, when the low there was minus-27 and the high stood at minus-14.

Wind-chill readings were from minus-35 to minus-45 degrees into Tuesday from the Dakotas through the Upper Peninsula. Under those readings, skin could freeze in less than 10 minutes.