The deep snow has created a lot of work and some impressive piles, demonstrated above as city employee Cass Zimmer adds to a pile as high as the library's roof.
-36 reading on March 3rd is coldest ever recorded in March
Punxsutawney Phil, that precocious groundhog from Gobbler's Knob, lied to us.
On February 2nd, the flea-bitten rodent did not see his shadow, which means he "predicted" that we were in for an early spring. Boy was he wrong.
In Broadus, February 2nd was the last day of the month to see a double digit above zero low temperature. For the remaining 26 days of February, the mercury would drop to zero or below on 21 nights, with temps bottoming out at -27 on February 19th and 20th.
Along with the cold temps came the snow, and February ended in an eerily similar fashion to February 2018, with a deep snow on the ground and dangerously cold temps freezing the lungs whenever one steps outside.
While February of 2018 had 2.61" of precip in Broadus, on top of snow leftover from January of 2018, February of this year had 1.27" of precip. Normal February precip is .40".
January of this year was relatively mild, with temps and precip around normal. Only three nights in January dipped below zero – on New Years Day and Jan 2, the temp dropped to -15 and -14, respectively, while on Jan 24 the temp dropped to -6. Other than those few days, weather for January was good, with .48" of precip in Broadus. .45" is normal.
The relatively mild weather of January meant animals were able to maintain weight and access feed, which in hindsight was a very good deal, considering the weather to come.
The average temp for the month of February in Broadus, 8.2 degrees, fell just short of the all time record of 7.5 degrees, in 1922. In the last week of February 1922, temps on successive days dropped to -26, -33, -24, -5, -33, and -39 on February 28th, while 21" of snow sat on the ground all week. 17" of snow was recorded as the lowest snow depth for the entire month.
This year, snow totals of over a foot were recorded across the area by the end of February, with drifting reported in some areas. The County crew, as well as city workers, ranchers, and anyone with a snowplow or snow shovel were kept busy throughout the month.
County Road Crew Supervisor Teel Mullanix said the county is currently leasing a plow truck, which offers another method of plowing roads. The truck is able to cruise along at significantly greater speeds than the county's road graders, which means roads will be plowed out faster. Without the plow truck, Teel said it takes around 3.5 days to get to all the roads in the county. That is, if the wind isn't blowing the roads back in behind the plows. Teel hopes that with the new plow truck, the 3.5 day window to reach all the roads will be reduced to 2 days. The road crew had the bus routes cleared out by Sunday, according to Mullanix, as they worked over the weekend.
Eventually, plans are to buy a plow truck. The current truck is being leased by the county in order to find out just what features we want or don't want, before spending the money on a rig.
Returning to the weather, memories of the tragic calving season of 2018 remain fresh in the mind, as we enter another cold March. Temps over the first four days of the month hovered at an average of 31 degrees below normal.
On March 3rd, the official courthouse weather station recorded a -36 reading, which is an all time record low temperature for March in Broadus. Reports from around the area indicated others with even lower readings – the lowest we've heard is -41, from the eastern realms of Powder River County.
Powder River County Sheriff Thumper Drane said that deputies were kept busy over the weekend, responding not to wrecks but to gelled up semis. Apparently, drivers unfamiliar with the extreme cold are not using the proper maintenance precautions, and some trucks are simply dying along the road, while others are having issues with their air brakes.
The forecast for the next week is slightly better than the last month, though forecasted highs are still below average, which means the deep piles of snow are not likely to melt anytime soon.
With calving season in full swing for many, hopes are that temperatures regulate sooner rather than later.
For what it's worth, Punxsutawney Phil has been predicting the onset of Spring since 1887, and in all those years he's only been right 39% of the time.
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