Coldest October temperature on record observed in Utah Monday morning

ROANOKE, Va. – While the last few days (excluding Tuesday) have been fairly warm here, don't tell that to anyone who visited Peter Sinks, Utah. Monday morning's low of -35° is a record low for the U.S. in the month of October. The country's previous record low for the month was in Montana at -33° in 1917.

Peter Sinks is located more than 8,000 feet above sea level and is notorious for its cold weather. According to the Utah Climate Center, Peter Sinks is a natural sinkhole near the north border of the state. There's no valley for water or air to drain into. On clear, windless nights, all the heat gained during the day escapes into space. 

Combine that with more dense, colder air sinking downward into Peter Sinks, and you have a prone cold spot. Its lowest temperature on record was -69°, which happened on February 1, 1985. 

You can see how the temperature plummeted and then rose again in this tweet from Monday. 

Around the rim, however, temperatures only dropped into the single digits. This shows clearly the effect that this natural sinkhole has on temperatures.

For perspective, the coldest we've been on an October morning was 22°. It happened on October 22, 1930 and October 28, 1976. 

The disturbance that brought this cold air also brought snow to parts of Iowa and Wisconsin. Another batch of cold air currently dumping snow on the Rockies will be responsible for our cool down after Halloween.