This Utah location dropped to negative 55 degrees on Monday night
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LOGAN, Utah (ABC4) — With arctic air funneling into Utah, the last few days have been undoubtedly cold. But one Utah location was colder than most.
Peter Sinks, a natural sinkhole located just 20 miles northeast of Logan, recorded a temperature of minus 55 degrees Fahrenheit on Monday night, solidifying its claim as one of the coldest locations in the lower 48 United States.
But why was Peter Sinks so much colder than the rest of the Beehive State?
According to the Utah Climate Center at Utah State University, Peter Sinks’ low temperatures are due to a combination of factors unique to the location.
(Courtesy of Utah Geological Society)
The natural limestone sinkhole sits at an elevation of 8,164 feet. It has a unique basin topography and a dry climate with no valley outlet to drain water or air.
“On calm cloudless nights, this basin loses accumulated daytime heat to the atmosphere,” the Utah Climate Center explained. “In addition, cool dense air slides down-slope into the basin floor in a process known as cold air pooling. Extremely low temperatures can occur, especially in the wake of wintertime arctic fronts.”
The negative-55 degrees at Peter Sinks this week is still far from the coldest temperature ever recorded at the sinkhole. In February 1985, the temperature plummeted to minus 69.3 degrees Fahrenheit, making it officially the second-coldest temperature ever recorded in the lower 48 states. The lowest was 69.7 degrees Fahrenheit at Roger’s Pass, Montana in 1954.
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