I'm having a hard time finding Miles City historical weather data, particular record-setting temps, snowfall, etc.

Is there anyplace that tells me how cold it was on such a such a date and how many miles, uphill, both ways, in the snow, I had to walk to school on different dates?

Weather Underground , wunderground.com , has a page you can put your zip code , has alot of information and history.

I think that you can probably get it from the National Climatic Data Center http://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/oa/ncdc.html if you dig hard enough but it is far from user friendly.

Seems like there must be someplace easier to find it.

Thanks guys.

Yah, NOAA and NCDC are terrible sites - hopeless to find anything other than basically today's forecast. Finding MC historical data is tough in general. I find larger cities often have their own archives so I just check their local sites.

Wunderground looks to have a better system.

Thanks!

The topic of record lows/highs for Miles City came up back in 2003:

http://milescity.com/foru...?fpid=1751

You can pull some historical data out here:
http://www.wrcc.dri.edu/s...msmmt.html

Great stuff - thank you all!

I can tell you that January 13, 1888 was when the all time low was set when it reached 65 BELOW zero.

wow!!!

65 below... you can't even form proper swear words at that temp!

Which is why they say "cussing a blue streak"?

At 65 below cusswords freeze as they leave your mouth and shatter on the ground before anyone can hear them.

Seems to me that one is better off keeping their mouth shut when outside in that kind of weather. My dad told of working with his coat off in -20 degree weather and not aware of the cold because of a lack of wind. Wind chill is our greater enemy I'd say.

I remember in the early 1980's (perhaps 1984?) it got very cold for a couple of days in February. We live in the valley, about 6 miles out, and it was so cold our vehicles wouldn't start even though they had been plugged in all night. The mercury in our outside thermometer was nearly at the bottom, so I estimate it was nearly 50 below zero. The schools were closed for those few days. I find it hard to believe that the coldest recorded temperature for Miles City was not even -40, although I guess the recordings are taken up on the hill, not down in the valley where the cold air tends to pool. Just two days ago it was -31.8 on our digital thermometer, and then -29.8 last night. We are always significantly colder than the official temperature up at the airport.

I remember that the Christmas season of 1983 was extremely cold in southeast Montana. I was living in Baker at the time and it was 101 below with the wind chill. The actual temperature was about 45 below. I really felt sorry for the Baker Fire Department at the time, there was a garage fire down the street from me a couple nights before Christmas and it was miserably cold to be fighting that fire.

The cold even caught the attention of Johnny Carson, although it was Bowman, ND he mentioned in his monologue. I remember Johnny saying "100 below - harder than a carp!"

The coldest temp was recorded at Ft. Keogh, I believe. It's usually cooler along the river and low lands. Cold sinks, heat rises.

Here's the National Weather Service's Montana Top Ten Weather Events for the Decade-

http://74.125.155.132/sea...clnk&gl=us

Does anyone remember this?...

April 25-26, 1969. A late season storm brought a drastic change in weather to eastern Montana. A day after numerous stations registered their highest temperature for the month (many in the 80s), a cold front swept through Montana bringing blizzard conditions to much of the eastern half of the state. Temperatures fell more than 50 degrees in 24 hours with wind chill readings well below zero for nearly 48 hours.

Snowfall amounts of over 1 foot were widespread with higher amounts including a 32 inch tally reported near Sonnette. Wind whipped the fresh snow into drifts reported to be over 20 feet high in places. Power and phone lines were knocked out. Utility lines downed over a 12 county area resulted in losses of nearly $2 million (1998 dollars). Some residents of southeastern Montana were without power for two weeks and without telephone service for over a month. Over 100,000 sheep, horses and cattle were lost with cost in today's dollars tallying well over $10 million....

It should say 20th century- not decade. Sorry.

B/4 the day of computer links there was a published study of precipitation totals by the month and year starting in September 1877 thru 1991 for Miles City. Data scource was Professor J.M.Caprio, Plant & Science Dept. Bozeman.

In an article July 7 1988 MILES CITY STAR by Jean Freese She discuss,s all time temp records at least as far back as 1881. Where this info was obtained in unknown to me.

They started keeping weather records at Fort Keogh. Elmer Peterson, who was an official weather observers in the 50's and 60's, I believe ended up with them. I have box of old weather records from the Star stuffed in the back of my office but have never gone through them. I'll ask Mom if she remembers the article and where the info came from.

April 25-26, 1969. A late season storm brought a drastic change in weather to eastern Montana. A day after numerous stations registered their highest temperature for the month (many in the 80s), a cold front swept through Montana bringing blizzard conditions to much of the eastern half of the state. Temperatures fell more than 50 degrees in 24 hours with wind chill readings well below zero for nearly 48 hours.

Ah yes, my 8th birthday. I well remember that snow storm. I was bummed that we all got to miss school on my sister's birthday 25th, but my birthday was on a Saturday 26th. The Wolf Creek road was blown shut. The power went out in the Pine Hills. Fortunately, we had wood for the stove and some candles for light. Feeding cows was brutal that day.

That was so cold the Kee birds sang: Kee-kee-kee-rice it's cold!