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At a Glance A town in Montana had a temperature rise of nearly 30 degrees in one hour on Sunday.

A city in Canada had a temperature increase of more than 40 degrees in two hours.

Chinook winds were the cause for the rapid temperature increase.

Other incredible temperature swings have occurred in past years, mainly in the Plains and High Plains. Temperatures in northern Montana and southern Canada rose dramatically in just hours on Sunday from a wind direction change called a chinook.

Cut Bank, Montana, about 25 miles south of the Canadian border, had a temperature rise of nearly 30 degrees in an hour Sunday morning. The temperature increased from 1 degree to 30 degrees before the sun had even risen for the day, according to the National Weather Service in Great Falls.

A similar phenomenon happened 80 miles north-northwest of Cut Bank in Lethbridge, Canada. The temperature rose more than 40 degrees in two hours , from minus 9 degrees to 34 degrees above zero.

<img class="styles__noscript__2rw2y" src="https://s.w-x.co/util/image/w/0120-mt-temp-chance.jpg?v=at&w=485&h=273" srcset="https://s.w-x.co/util/image/w/0120-mt-temp-chance.jpg?v=at&w=485&h=273 400w, https://s.w-x.co/util/image/w/0120-mt-temp-chance.jpg?v=ap&w=980&h=551 800w" > The area shown in pink and white had the largest temperature increase in just hours on Sunday morning. The milder pocket of air is along the Front Range of the northern Rockies.

The wind in both locations was from an easterly direction before the temperature rise occurred. That was holding arctic air in place along the Front Range of the northern Rockies.

A rapid shift in the wind direction to the west or southwest then occurred and pushed the arctic air away. This type of wind in the northern Rockies is known as a chinook, and it often produces rapid temperature changes in winter.

Chinook winds are the result of air rising over mountain ranges – in this case, the northern Rockies – and as the air reaches the ridge tops, it begins to sink and warm as it descends the mountain slopes. The winds that result are often gusty and can also create dramatic temperature changes by pushing away cold air at lower elevations.

<img class="styles__noscript__2rw2y" src="https://s.w-x.co/util/image/w/chinook.jpg?v=at&w=485&h=273" srcset="https://s.w-x.co/util/image/w/chinook.jpg?v=at&w=485&h=273 400w, https://s.w-x.co/util/image/w/chinook.jpg?v=ap&w=980&h=551 800w" >

One of the most extreme examples of warming from a chinook happened in Loma, Montana, Jan. 14-15, 1972. The temperature there warmed from minus 54 degrees to 49 degrees above zero in just 24 hours . That 103-degree temperature rise set a record for the largest 24-hour temperature change in U.S. weather records.

Two years ago this Feb. 13, there was another impressive temperature change in Montana. Fort Belknap had its temperature jump 82 degrees in less than a day, from an early morning low of minus 37 degrees to an afternoon high of 45 degrees.

These are just a couple of examples of drastic temperature changes over a short period of time. Here are five other incredible temperature swings from past years.

1. 49 Degree Change in Two Minutes

Spearfish, South Dakota, residents bundled up to get the newspaper at 7:30 a.m. on Jan. 22, 1943, with the temperature a frigid minus 4 degrees.

Just two minutes later, the frigid air was not so frigid anymore, as the temperature had shot up to 45 degrees. That's right: a temperature increase of 49 degrees in just two minutes.

But wait, that's not the end of this wild morning weather story. After the temperature climbed all the way to 54 degrees by 9 a.m., it crashed down 58 degrees in 27 minutes back to minus 4 degrees, right where it had started.

The National Weather Service office in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, described the cause of the dramatic temperature changes:

"The wild temperature fluctuations were likely due to cold air and warm air sloshing back and forth along the plains at the base of the Black Hills. A similar effect would be to pour warm water into a shallow bowl of cold water. The water would slosh back and forth a few times before settling down. This is likely what happened with the warm and cold air along the Black Hills."

2. Record High and Record Low in One Day

Oklahoma City accomplished a rare feat on Nov. 11, 1911.

Warm air ahead of a cold front allowed the afternoon temperature that day to reach a record high of 83 degrees.

<img class="styles__noscript__2rw2y" src="https://dsx.weather.com/util/image/w/frigid-11-11_980x551.jpeg?v=at&w=485&h=273&api=7db9fe61-7414-47b5-9871-e17d87b8b6a0" srcset="https://dsx.weather.com/util/image/w/frigid-11-11_980x551.jpeg?v=at&w=485&h=273&api=7db9fe61-7414-47b5-9871-e17d87b8b6a0 400w, https://dsx.weather.com/util/image/w/frigid-11-11_980x551.jpeg?v=ap&w=980&h=551&api=7db9fe61-7414-47b5-9871-e17d87b8b6a0 800w" > The cold front was almost to the East Coast by the following morning, with very cold high pressure taking over the middle of the country.

Then, the sharp cold front sliced through the Heartland and dropped temperatures in an extreme way. Just before midnight, the low temperature bottomed out at a record of 17 degrees. This is a total drop of 66 degrees from the record high to the record low.

Both of these temperature records for Nov. 11 remain intact more than 100 years later.

Springfield, Missouri, was another city that set a record high and record low on this same day in 1911.

3. From 67 Degrees at Lunch to 1 Degree at Dinner

A temperature of 67 degrees at noon on an early December day might give you thoughts of an outdoor lunch. If you were in Amarillo, Texas, on Dec. 12, 1919, this would have been a bad idea, unless you're a weather enthusiast.

A powerful cold front raced through the northwestern Texas city during the lunch hour, ushering in cold northerly winds that dropped the temperature to 23 degrees by 1 p.m., an incredible plunge of 44 degrees in one hour.

It got even worse through the afternoon and early evening. In fact, by the time people were cleaning up from dinner around 7 p.m., it was only 1 degree above zero.

4. 110 Degree Temperature Rise in a Week

This next amazing temperature swing from winter 2011 had some residents of Oklahoma changing their wardrobe from thick winter coats to shorts and t-shirts in the span of a week.

A cold air mass, combined with a fresh snowpack and calm winds, allowed the town of Nowata, Oklahoma, to reach a low of minus 31 degrees on Feb. 10, 2011. This was confirmed as the all-time coldest temperature ever recorded in Oklahoma.

Gradual warming accelerated over the course of a week, and temperatures peaked at a record high of 79 degrees on Feb. 17.

According to the National Weather Service office in Tulsa, Oklahoma, this 110-degree temperature rise is the greatest change within seven days in Oklahoma history.

5. 181 Degree Difference in Months

This one is not a major temperature drop or rise in minutes or hours, but rather a very unique occurrence within a matter of months.

On Feb. 15, 1936, the town of Parshall, North Dakota, bottomed out at minus 60 degrees, a new record low for the state. Almost five months later on July 6, the town of Steele, North Dakota, recorded a new all-time state record-high temperature of 121 degrees. This is a temperature range of 181 degrees in North Dakota from February to July in 1936.

South Dakota accomplished a similar feat in the same year around the same dates. McIntosh set a state record-low temperature of minus 58 degrees on Feb. 17. Then, on July 5, Gann Valley set a new record high of 120 degrees for the state (this record was equaled in 2006 near Fort Pierre).

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