Modern day Browning, Montana. Wikipedia photo.

A hundred years ago today, the town of Browning, Montana experienced a 100 degree drop in temperature within 24 hours.  On January 23, the temperature was 44°F, dropping to -56°F the next day as an Arctic cold front slammed through.

The event is recorded in the Guiness Book of World Records as the greatest temperature range in a day.  While this record for temperature drop still stands, the record for greatest change was actually broken in 1972, but not immediately recognized.

NWS Observer Jim Wood at the location of the 1972 record. NOAA photo.

This record was actually broken on January 14-15, 1972, at Loma, Montana.  National Weather Service cooperative observer Jim Wood recorded a temperature of -54°F at 9:00 AM local time on the 14th, which rose to 49°F by 8:00 local time the next morning, a 103 degree difference.  The dramatic change in temperature was the result of a Chinook wind from a system centered over Wisconsin.  Neither the observer nor the local weather office were aware that a record had been broken, and it was unknown to the National Climate Extremes Committee of NOAA, which had been formed in 1997 to make definitive rulings on weather records.  It was not brought to the committee’s attention until 2002.

Wood, a former member of the Montana Legislature, died in 2013 at the age of 89.

References

• Top Ten Montana Weather Events of the 20th Century
• A National Temperature Record at Loma, Montana at NOAA.gov

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