Ravings of a Long Haired Dude

January 21, 1985: The Coldest Day

Nowadays people whine about how cold it is when the temperature drops into the lower forties. They ain't seen nothing!

Our local meteorologist was talking yesterday about how the record low temperature for today was -21 degrees Fahrenheit at the Tri-Cities Regional Airport   in Blountville TN, in 1985. That reminded me of where I was that day. I was working as a ski lift operator at Ski Beech on top of Beech Mountain NC. I don't remember what the temperature was there. The temperature hit -32 degrees at nearby Grandfather Mountain  . Mount Mitchell reached -34, which set the record for the whole Eastern Seaboard. .This vicious cold spell was called The Freeze of the Century  .

We stayed the night on the mountain and slept in the lift office. I got up and put on my usually adequate cold weather clothing and started the walk to my station. It was crystal clear and sunny. It looked beautiful. It didn't feel beautiful. The cold knocked me up one side and down the other. To say it was like walking into a freezer is a complete understatement. That kind of cold defies description. It is downright dangerous.
It works its way right through winter gear and right to the bone. It takes your breath away. I don't remember it being windy. Thank God for that. I don't have any idea of what the wind chill would have been like.

We usually switched off about every thirty minutes or so. That day we switched every ten. That was about as long as we could stand it. We had to check the customer's faces after every run for frostbite. We sent several to the Ski Patrol office for first aid. I don't see how the skiers stood it. They were tougher than I was.

When thinking about that I have to respect people who live in climates where the temperature is that low on a regular basis. I guess you can get used to anything.

January 1985 Record-breaking Cold: National Weather Service  

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Note: The links for Tri-Cities Regional Airport and Grandfather Mountain are weather record pages.