Snow-Fraser TB

Please drop this item in rural or Premium Member Only caches.  Do not place it in an urban cache or leave it behind at a caching event.  Transport the bug in the original plastic bag for as long as the bag lasts; this prevents tangling with other items.  Otherwise, take this travel bug anywhere you wish.  No permission needed to leave the U.S.

This series of “snow” travel bugs each commemorates a cold US city.  I am not sure how one determines the coldest US cities in the winter.  Does one rank the record lows, lowest monthly averages or lowest winter averages?   Many of the cities would appear on all three lists.  Rather than try to assign a ranking, I will simply include some cities or hamlets from each of the criteria.  Regardless of ranking, we have to  acknowledge that all of the locations identified in this series are really, really cold places in winter.

Fraser, Colorado  Fraser is a Statutory Town in Grand County, Colorado, United States. The population was 910 at the 2000 census. The town is in Middle Park in the valley of the Fraser River along U.S. Highway 40. Its location northwest of Winter Park, the location of a popular ski resort, has provided growth in recent years with new condominium and other real estate developments.

Fraser, with an annual mean temperature of 32.5 °F is the coldest incorporated town in the lower 48 states. It also has the shortest growing season with an average of only 4 to 7 days (depending on which weather station data is used) and can and does get frost year-round. Both Fraser and International Falls, Minnesota have claimed the title "Icebox of the Nation," which has caused conflict between the two towns over the years.  

Besides Fraser, there are still many towns that are smaller and annually overall colder than International Falls, many of these being mountain communities in the Rockies, as well as several in northern Minnesota.  International Falls is still called the "Icebox of the Nation" after winning the claim against Fraser in court.  One thing that does help or hinder International Falls is that Fraser is located within the Rocky Mountains, which would help to depress low temperatures while International Falls is located on relatively flat land, which takes longer to cool on warm summer nights.  It should also be noted that while sub-freezing temperatures are very common at high elevation, valley sites in the Rockies during the winter, maximum temperatures that remain sub−freezing are quite rare, while at International Falls and much of the upper (Northern) Midwest they are of relatively frequent occurrence.  This is reflected by the average monthly temperatures during the winter months.