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Show Small Town Ratps Frequent Mention As 'Coldest Spot' BIG PINEY, WYO: Although his little cattle-raising community nestled in the Wyoming mountains has only 241 residents, it probably rates mention in the nation's newspapers news-papers more often than any other small town in the country. It's not at all unusual for stories about weather conditions to include the statement that "the coldest spot in the country was Big Piney, Wyo., with 20 degrees below zero." The dubious -distinction of being the "nation's ice box" is blamed by the weather bureau on a "cold air drainage" off the mountains lying to the west of the town, which is situated in a mountain valley of 6,280 feet altitude. "Masses of cold air drain off the mountain range into the valley just like streams of water," the weather bureau explains. "There is also an elevation to the east. This inclosure prevents the wind from sweeping out cold air and warming up the valley." Frigid blasts are almost a year-around year-around proposition. Big Piney had only a 61-day growing season last year, compared with 148 growing days at Cheyenne, some 300 miles to the southeast. |