A Thermal Surprise

By Anupum Pant

The people, cattle and every other living being in Spearfish, South Dakota was stunned by an event that happened in the morning of January 22, 1943. It was 7:30 in the morning and there was a lot of snow around. The temperature was touching -20 degrees centigrade. In a span of just 2 minutes (by the time it was 7:32) the temperature suddenly rose up to 7 degree centigrade above zero! in Fahrenheit scale, the one used in US, this was a 49 degree rise in temperature in just 2 minutes. This was the fastest temperature change ever witnessed in the history of man kind.

The thermal shock wasn’t just a surprise to the living beings. The rapid temperature change was enough to crack the windows of cars and apartments too.

The “high” temperature, or a balmy temperature if you may call it that, did not last too long. Just like it came, it went back to being -20 in less than an hour. But by that time, people say that the snow on one side of the buildings was melted, while the other side was full of snow.

This change happened due to something called the Chinook wind – which means “snow eater.” These warm winds apparently poured down a nearby mountain and raised the temperature of the place very rapidly. Once it was past the town, the temperatures dropped back to natural levels.

via [Wikipedia]

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *