Why Peter Sinks gets some of the coldest temperatures in the US
Jan 28, 2025, 7:10 PM | Updated: 7:52 pm
LOGAN — Peter Sinks is pulling some of the coldest temperatures in the country, dropping to 56 below zero just over a week ago.
However, the cold air leaves about as fast as it rolls in. That’s why at around 11 a.m., the temperature was maybe in the upper 20s when about a couple of weeks ago, it dipped down to 56 below.
It’s a brief snowmobile ride to get down into Peter Sinks, where the Utah Climate Center has a permanent monitoring station.
“If it’s dead calm the temperature at nighttime will just be plummeting,” Alan Moller, a research technician with the Utah Climate Center of Utah State University said.
“Right now we’re pretty comfy right now. But if we were here and through just three hours ago, it would’ve been well below zero still.”
Moller explains the cold air overnight can leave just as fast as it rolls in, giving us some more comfortable temperatures here around 11 a.m. around the upper 20s to lower 30s.
“If you get just a little bit of airflow, even just one mile per hour, that’s enough to make the temperature jump back up to ten degrees or more,” Moller said.
Around dusk at Peter Sinks, the warm air quickly rises with little pressure up there at about 8-thousand feet to keep it down.
“Sometimes when we get to extreme cold events, it’s a combination of clear skies,” Moller said. “No wind and maybe an arctic front passed by.”
Peter Sinks makes it a fascinating area to study for researchers. The Utah Climate Center has maintained a permanent station here since 2009, with another one at the rim of the bowl to monitor the difference.
They also have one up above to watch the difference in temperatures from the top of the bowl, down to the bottom.
“Because it’s a sink, there’s no outlet for that air to go,” Moller said. “It just pools up.”
It’s just the right combination of conditions in the right spot to make it the coldest spot in the lower 48 states.