REGIONAL— The coldest air mass since 1996 descended on the North Country this week, sending temperatures plummeting close to all-time record lows. Brisk winds only added to the misery, sending wind chills as low as 70 below zero in places.

An official low temperature reading of minus-56 degrees at Cotton on Sunday morning, Jan. 27, was the coldest reading reported during the cold blast, at least as the Timberjay went to press late Wednesday.

But State Climatologist Pete Boulay said the state’s all-time record low of minus-60, set Feb. 2, 1996, in Kugler Township just south of Tower, could be at risk early Thursday morning depending on whether winds die down and the skies remain clear. Calm winds typically allow the coldest air to settle into low-lying locations.

Meteorologists are attributing the latest intrusion of bitter Arctic air to an offshoot of the polar vortex, which has broken up in recent weeks, sending a lobe of bitter cold into the Upper Midwest.

Boulay said weather officials have been in touch with observers across northern Minnesota in recent days to ensure that their equipment is in good operating condition on the chance that this year’s cold wave could set some new low temperature records. “We’ll be watching on Thursday morning,” said Boulay on Wednesday.

The bitter wind chills prompted schools across the North Country to close on Tuesday and Wednesday of this week to avoid exposing children to the dangerous conditions. Schools were expected to reopen on Thursday. U.S. Mail delivery was also suspended on Wednesday, although most Post Offices were still open. Normal delivery was expected to resume on Thursday.

Along with the intense cold came the usual media attention on the North Country. A Minneapolis television station was in Tower on Tuesday, interviewing the new mayor along with others in the community about the cold.

In Embarrass, longtime National Weather Service observer Roland Fowler was the subject of a lengthy interview by the Wall Street Journal. While Fowler gave up his status as the official observer last year, he still maintains his official weather box and thermometer and said he’d be watching with interest on Thursday morning. On Sunday, his thermometer bottomed out at minus-47, well short of the state record, but hope springs eternal among those North Country residents who relish cold weather competition.

Fowler watched in horror on Feb. 2, 1996, when his electronic thermometer went into error mode at minus-58, leaving him without a means of recording temperatures, with the state record on the line. At least one unofficial thermometer put the low at minus-64 in Embarrass that morning, but the official record went to Tower, a few miles up the road.

Both the Tower and Embarrass weather stations have moved since 1996, and neither of the new locations have rivaled previous ones for cold temperatures.

Cotton could be in the running, following their minus-56 temperature reading last Sunday, and Kabetogama reported minus-49.

The good news is that temperatures are forecast to rebound dramatically, with highs by the weekend expected in the mid-20s. Colder weather is supposed to return early next week, but temperatures won’t come close to rivaling conditions experienced in recent days.