International Falls has been the focus of national media and local discussion this week as temperatures plummeted well below zero.
As of Thursday, much of Minnesota and other areas in the Midwest remain stuck in winter’s vicious path with bitter temperatures settling in for five consecutive days.
“It was an arctic high-pressure system that dipped down into north central Minnesota to allow for cold air,” Kevin Kraujalis, meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Duluth, said of what carried the dangerously low temperatures.
Kraujalis said the cold snap arrived Saturday night as a jet stream swept in Arctic air, pushing thermometers well-below zero and issuing a number of wind chill advisories and warnings.
“People need to remember to cover up exposed areas of skin,” Kraujalis reminded. “In these temperatures, frostbite can occur in a matter of minutes.”
Borderland didn’t have any record-breaking cold temperatures, but it came close.
Thursday morning’s low of 36 degrees below zero – which doesn’t include the windchill – was just one degree away from the 1904 record of 37 below.
“These high pressure system parked over Minnesota is cold, but no records yet,” the meteorologist said.
While thermometers struggled to reach positive digits, Borderland resident Ronna Mackay in a post on The Journal’s Facebook page said, “It’s a small price to pay to live in one of the best parts of the nation.”
Tammy Walls agreed.
“I like that we have the four seasons, and the cold weather doesn’t usually stay too very long,” she wrote. “We are living in a beautiful place with the lakes and scenery. Can’t complain too much.”
Others, however, aren’t convinced.
Jessica Alexander admits she is used to the chilly temps, but still “hates it.”
Independent School District No. 361 became a popular topic of discussion Wednesday afternoon when officials announced schools would be closed Thursday due to “forecasted unsafe weather conditions.”
“When it gets close to 40 below, it gets too risky to have young people out,” ISD 361 Superintendent Nordy Nelson said Thursday. “It won’t happen very often, but you’ve got to draw the line somewhere.”
The announcement shocked many of The Journal’s Facebook followers, and triggered conversation from Falls High graduates, who attended school despite bitter temperatures.
“I never remember school canceled due to weather,” Deanna Knudson wrote. “I am a 1966 graduate. I walked from the Hilltop Motel to the Holler School in 40 below and who knows what the wind-chill factor was.”
“I remember our parents fighting the school board back in the ‘50s so girls could wear pants under their dresses while waiting for the bus. Also, we had swimming at the High School and had to run with wet hair back to Backus no matter the weather,” Verna Jenson VonBokern Benard wrote.
LeRoy C. Weum added, “Only time I ever remember school being closed was the blizzard the happened in March of 1963. I believe that was the time frame.”
Nelson told The Journal he was unsure of exactly when the last time the school closed its doors to the cold, but said it was about five or six years ago.
Local Chamber of Commerce President Faye Whitbeck welcomed the national media attention about the cold temperatures and was interviewed by The Weather Channel and Associated Press. She said footage and stories have shown up on ABC News and the New York Daily News, among others.
“Although the resilient folks in the Icebox of the Nation can handle the cold, recent temperatures in International Falls found even them discovering new ways to stay warm,” Whitbeck said in an email to The Journal.
Whitbeck said chamber staff member Janine Burtness dressed for a frigid Thursday morning by wearing a “Snuggie” under her clothes.
“Life goes on,” Burtness said while shopping in temperatures of 34 below zero. “But fashion goes out the window as we do what it takes to be warm.”
The Weather Channel also interviewed Journal staff, and was curious about the mood of the International Falls community when it gets extremely cold. A Facebook post by Kathy M. Ellsworth echoed The Journal’s response.
“In spite of it all we are still venturing out to try to do day-to-day things,” Ellsworth wrote. “Life is life in the International Falls and it is all normal, even in the coldest weather.”
Others agreed that it could be worse.
“It comes with living up here,” Linda Erickson wrote of life in Borderland. “Temps in the -30s is easier to deal with than mosquitoes and gnats.”
“I would add wood ticks and deer flies, also,” Tony Oveson wrote.
To view The Journal’s footage on The Weather Channel, visit www.weather.com/video/living-in-the-icebox-of-america-33925.
