Feb 14, 2008 - 04:07:01 CST
If it's about having bragging rights, and the point of contention is winter extremes - brace yourself: Even today, we lose on one score.Much depends on point of view, what kind of weather people want to believe separates the stalwarts from the riffraff who flee from the first manifestation of Boreas.
For example, take what people believe qualifies as chilly temperature. The towns of International Falls, Minn., and Fraser, Colo., went to court, filing suit and countersuit over which owned the bragging rights to being the "Ice Box of the Nation." Crazy business, isn't it, pride in hypothermia.
It wasn't only about brag; it was over trademark protection and being where companies spend money on product research in cold weather. The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office stepped in and declared that the Minnesota town had the prior right, from 1948. The Colorado town illicitly rustled the slogan in 1956, and the cold war was on.
International Falls tried to chill the rivalry in 1986, paying Fraser $2,000 to yield. But the town up north goofed a few years ago and failed to register a renewal of the trademark. Fraser took advantage: We R America's real deep freeze.
On Jan. 29, the federal agency spoke, issuing International Falls Reg. No. 3,375,139 for "Ice Box of the Nation." As if to add an exclamation point, on Monday the temperature in the town an icicle of spit away from Canada dipped to minus 40 degrees F., a record for the date. That morning, skiers greeting the day at Winter Park, just outside Fraser, enjoyed a balmy temp of 18 above as they mounted the chair lift.
Now, who had the last laugh?
The low Monday morning in Bismarck was minus 4, not cold enough for a brag but cold enough for a righteous shiver. North Dakotans, like others in the northern tier, have a perverse pride in winter misery. Seriously, winter weather can be dangerous and should be respected. But we aren't so bad off.
Again, it's mainly about point of view. In Portland, Ore., it's learning to live without seeing the sun for weeks on end. At one point, a community college offered newcomers a survival course on how to endure the wintertime dreary emotional dumps.
As for really cold, minus 80 F at Prospect Creek Camp in Alaska on Jan. 23, 1971, stands as a U.S. record. It was darned cold in North Dakota on Feb. 15, 1936, at Parshall, 60 below.
International Falls can bask in the warmth of its victory over Fraser. But at 8,574 feet elevation, situated in a valley backed up to the Continental Divide, Fraser doesn't need to give quarter. It's really the cooler place to be.
While the town in Minnesota has an average high temperature of 79 degrees in the days of July and an average low of 54 at night, the July days in Fraser round off to 73 as a high and the nights come in around 34. That's warmer than in June there, averaging 29 degrees at night, and in August, 32 above. The yearly mean temperature of the town in the Rockies is 32.5 F, in International Falls, 36.4.
In Bismarck-Mandan, the score is 42.3. It's practically the tropics here.
warmachine wrote on Feb 14, 2008 1:22 PM:
Indie Conservative wrote on Feb 14, 2008 11:59 AM:
Point to Ponder wrote on Feb 14, 2008 11:02 AM:
warmachine wrote on Feb 14, 2008 10:32 AM:
MamaMia wrote on Feb 14, 2008 9:07 AM:
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