This magpie perched high on a tree in Challis after heavy snowfall earlier this winter. Limited snowfall is predicted in Challis several days later this month, and temperatures are predicted to stay low.
This magpie perched high on a tree in Challis after heavy snowfall earlier this winter. Limited snowfall is predicted in Challis several days later this month, and temperatures are predicted to stay low.
Dec. 22 was a cold day around Custer County with new record lows set in Challis, Stanley and Mackay, according to the National Weather Service’s Pocatello office.
It dipped to 27 below zero in Stanley that night while Challis and Mackay both saw a low temperature of 16 below zero. All three were the coldest readings for Dec. 22 in all three cities.
The minus 16 reading in Challis was 23 degrees cooler than the average Dec. 22 temperature in the city, weather service records show.
However, less than a week after setting record lows, all three towns saw record high temperatures, weather service data shows.
Stanley set a new record high of 51 degrees on Dec. 26. Challis hit 47, a new record, on Dec. 27. That’s 37 degrees warmer than the average Dec. 27 temperature in Challis. And the 41-degree reading on Dec. 28 in Mackay was a new high for the day.
Overall, December was cold throughout the county. The low temperature was below zero for 10 December nights in Challis, 12 nights in Stanley and 10 in Mackay. Stanley only saw the temperature reach the freezing point of 32 or above on 10 days last month. Temperatures reached at least 32 degrees on just 11 days in Challis and 11 days in Mackay.
On Dec. 22, Stanley’s high temperature was a measly 3 degrees. It hit just 6 degrees in Challis that day, while Mackay hit a balmy 26 degrees on Dec. 22. That was the lone December day for a single-digit high temperature in both Challis and Stanley. Mackay had two December days with a high temperature of 7, coming on Dec. 18 and 19.
Stanley received 3.37 inches of precipitation in December, while Challis recorded 0.87 of an inch of precipitation last month. Mackay’s December precipitation totaled 2.03 inches.
The 0.30 of an inch of precipitation that fell in Challis on Dec. 27—as rain—was a new record precipitation total for the day in the county seat. Likewise, the 0.83 of an inch of precipitation that fell in Stanley on Dec. 27 was a new record for the day.
Mackay set records for precipitation amounts and new snowfall on two consecutive days in December. On each Dec. 11 and 12, the city received 0.50 of an inch of precipitation in the form of 5 inches of new snow each day. New snowfall in Mackay last month totaled 22.6 inches, according to the NWS.
Weather records have already been set in Challis in January. The high of 24 degrees set on Jan. 1 was a new record at the Challis Airport. The -6 degree overnight low on Jan. 2 was a new record low at the airport. The high daytime temperature of 28 on Jan. 5 was a new record high for the day. And the high of 32 degrees on Jan. 6 was a new high for that day at the airport.
Snow is in the long-term AccuWeather forecast for Challis and Mackay on Jan. 15, 17, 18 and 20. AccuWeather also forecasts daily high temperatures for both communities to hover below freezing for most days the rest of the month. The high is expected to exceed 32 degrees on Jan. 13, 14 and 15, but only by a few degrees.
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