Be�ing �e Winter Blues
Chinook Days story
Chinook Days Winter Carnival goers pull children on tubes behind fat bikes . by LAURA LINDBLOM
They say if you don ’ t like the weather in South Dakota , just wait a day or two and it will change . Or a few minutes .
Winter can get to feeling long , so if you are in need of something to bring a little warmth to your January , take a drive up to Spearfish during the week of January 18-25 to sip some local beer , listen to live music , and take in the 6th Annual Chinook Days Winter Festival .
“[ My brother and I ] grew up in Spearfish and vaguely knew about the temperature change record that Spearfish has ,” John Williams , one of the founders of Chinook Days , explained . “ Many people have conceptions of what it was , [ but ] what actually happened in 1943 is that the temperature was - 4 degrees at 7:30 in the morning , and at 7:32 it had risen to 45 degrees . In only 2 minutes , the temperature changed 49 degrees , and that record has stood for 82 years . People from the National Weather Service came to Spearfish …. There was an official graph that the gas meter company had recorded , so they took it very seriously . It was pretty wild .”
14 Down Country Roads January / February 2025