Decorah is heading towards its third most severe winter

With below zero temperatures predicted for the rest of the week, Decorah is hurtling towards an unofficial total of 42 days with temperatures below zero.

If that is the final official total of days below zero from November 1st through February 28th, it would make this winter almost as cold as the winters of 1977-1978 and 1978-1979.

Earlier this month, decorahnews.com told you Decorah weather observer Richard Bernatz said the winters of 1978 and 1977 rank as the first and second most severe winters for Decorah over the 120 years of record-keeping. The winter of 1978 (Dec 1978-Feb1979) recorded 43 days of lows below zero, while the winter of 1977 (Dec 1977-Feb1978) recorded 47 days of lows below zero.  Decorah had recorded 36 days of below zero temperatures as of February 11th.