-57 in South Dakota, 146 MPH in California!

Jamestown, North Dakota wins the "coldest spot" prize this Sunday morning: At 9 AM, they have heavy snow with winds sustained at 35 mph, and a temperature of -11, which makes a RealFeel of -57. Conditions are similar across the state and in Montana although temperatures are even colder, down to -35 at South Fork, MT (although officially, the lowest is -22 at Cut Bank).

That -35 degree (F) reading might not be accurate, as it seems to be an outlier based on surrounding stations at the same elevation (see MesoWest map below or live).

As a comparison, the nation's all-time record low was set in Montana at -70, so, although this is clearly the coldest weather so far this year (and pretty impressive for December), it's not approaching record levels yet. Thankfully, the wind is decreasing in the state of Montana this morning. All this is definitely worthy of the widespread Blizzard Warnings that were posted yesterday.

Blog reader Trent points out that White Mountain, CA gusted to 146 mph as this wicked Western storm system powered over the California / Nevada border.

Mammoth Mountain, California also gusted to 102 or 123 mph depending on which mountain station you believe, though that second reading is suspect because the sustained winds were so low.