February 25, 2015 at 3:03 p.m.
Looking back at the coldest February in Rhinelander history
Looking back at the coldest February in Rhinelander history
By By Kyle Rogers-
"The Ironwood-Antigo train puffed into the North Western station this morning. A Milwaukee traveling man, who was one of two men to venture out of the Oneida Hotel this morning, remarked to the other man: 'There's something for the books. Down in Milwaukee the trains are running from six to eight hours behind schedule, but up here in the frozen north, the train gets in on time.'
'Huh!' snorted the Rhinelander native, 'that train's not on time; that's yesterday's train.'
The salesman started to laugh, sucked in a mouthful of 33-below-zero air and froze to death right there on the street."
The last sentence, of course, is a stretching of the truth. After all, the article appeared under the headline: "Low Temperature Brings Tall Tales." But the rest of the "tall tale" is actually an accurate depiction of Rhinelander in February 1936. At an average temperature of minus 0.8 degrees, it was the coldest February on record in the city, though many of those days reached minus 33 degrees and colder. And Rhinelander often found itself cut off from the rest of civilization as snow in the southern part of the state wreaked havoc on railways' ability to maintain consistent service.
This past month has been another cold one for the Northwoods, particularly the latter part of it. But compared to the February 79 years ago it could almost be considered balmy. Not to mention what braving such extreme cold temperatures meant in the 1930s compared to the present day.
A cold wave was sweeping across all of the northern states in February 1936. It led to coal shortages in some parts of the country, which grew serious enough to warrant a vote by the United Mine Workers union to allow miners to work on their Saturday holidays in order to meet demand. Shortages of certain perishable foods like milk also became problematic as snowstorms completely shut down highway and rail traffic at different times during the month.
Rhinelander, fortunately, was spared from any major supply shortages. But the city was often isolated as the railways running from the south to north had the most difficult time staying in service. The Daily News had stories almost daily listing the various highways in the state that were closed and the various trains that were delayed due to drifting snow, sometimes by as much as 12 hours.
"In Rhinelander, it was a case of yesterday's train arrived today; today's train won't arrive at all, and the next train may be here tomorrow," one early February article reported.
Rhinelander residents appeared to handle the record-setting cold weather as well as could be expected.
Daily life went on as usual despite some of the inconveniences due to the constant train delays. For Rhinelander, that meant mostly sporadic mail delivery.
"Except for lack of mail, the severe cold weather brought little change here," the Daily News reported in a Feb. 6 article. "Factories operated, stores were open, and schools were in session."
School attendance still took a hit, however. There was only 50 percent attendance for the grade-school-aged children on Feb. 5, in which the mercury fell to minus 32 degrees. But the senior high reported only 65 absent out of 505 students, and the junior high had 75 absent out of 400. Minus 32 degrees was the low for the winter season at that time. That was bested the following day with a temperature of minus 33 degrees. It got even colder about a week later. Rhinelander achieved its coldest mark of 1936 on Feb. 16 - the thermometer read 41 below zero at 7 a.m. that day and didn't climb any higher than negative 15 degrees.
There were no "unusual hardships" reported the Daily News, but life in Rhinelander certainly was not humming along. The deep freeze had set in prior to the start of the month, in mid-January, so by that time the area had seen a stretch of five weeks without mild temperatures.
"The cold weather has put a serious crimp in business," a Daily News report said. "Merchants report a drop in the number of customers shopping. Much business is being handled by telephone. Even crime has frozen up; there has been only one prisoner in the county jail for some time, and only a handful of cases in court since the advent of sub-zero weather."
Perhaps the most activity was seen in the form of the city's electrically powered thawing machine. The device had been purchased in 1930, but in February 1936 it was being used more than ever before.
"Over 100 frozen lines have been opened up with this device since the cold struck," a Daily News article said. "Eagle River, Hurley and Antigo city officials have called here this week, asking about the thawing machine, how it operates and where one like it can be purchased."
On Feb. 23, it all finally came to an end. The temperature hovered in the mid-30s, the first mild day in almost six weeks - the longest steady cold that northern Wisconsin had experienced in 25 years.
Comments:
You must login to comment.