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At least it wasn't 51 degrees below zero!

National Weather Service

UPDATED 6:50 pm

Gaylord hit 35 degrees below zero this morning, one of the coldest temperatures ever recorded there. A volunteer observer noted that temperature. The thermometer at Gaylord Regional Airport went down to minus 31, according to the National Weather Service.

Other cities set records for the day, including Traverse City at minus 22, two degrees colder than the previous record for February 20th.

Neither of those approach the coldest temperature ever recorded in Michigan.

Jeff Lutz, a meteorologist at the National Weather Service, says that was minus 51 degrees, set in 1934 in Vanderbilt, north of Gaylord. He says places like Vanderbilt and Grayling are in valleys that tend to pool cold air.

Lutz says it also had to do with the fact that Michigan’s forest had been clear-cut.

“There were no trees to shelter and keep some of the warmth in closer to the surface of the earth,” he says.

During the worst of the cold temperatures, more than 800 homes and businesses in Kingsley and Fife Lake lost power. That was at about 4:00 am.

“We believe the cold weather contributed to two poles snapping and therefore bringing down electric wires,” says Roger Morgenstern from Consumers Energy.

The highway was closed for 12 hours. The Red Cross opened emergency shelters in the area. Power was not restored until about 5:00 in the afternoon.

Meanwhile, heating specialists are working extra hours in the region. They’re trying to fix the furnaces that are busting under the strain of cold temperatures.

Nikki Knopf Wheaton works at J-P Heating of Northern Michigan in Gaylord and says some workers have put in 19-hour days.

“Motors are starting to go because they’re working longer and harder," she says. "Pilots or igniters are failing because they’re constantly turning on and off.”

She says customers’ furnaces often cannot keep up with their thermostat settings. 

Peter Payette is the Executive Director of Interlochen Public Radio.