Snow-Rochester TB

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

Photos in the travel bug logs are appreciated.  I will be re-post them here, where they can be seen by other cachers.

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.

Rochester, Minnesota,  is the county seat of Olmsted County.  Located on the Zumbro River's south fork, the city has a population of 106,769.  The city developed as a stagecoach stop between Saint Paul, Minnesota, and Dubuque, Iowa.  When the railroad arrived in the 1860s, it brought new residents and business opportunities.  In 1863, Dr. William W. Mayo arrived as the examining surgeon for draftees in the Civil War.  In 1883, a tornado demolished much of Rochester, leaving 37 dead and about 200 injured. There was no medical facility at the time, so Mayo and his two sons worked together to care for the wounded.  Donations of $60,000 were collected and St. Marys Hospital opened in 1889. The Mayo practice grew and is today among the largest and most well-respected medical facilities in the world.

Rochester sees on average 30 inches of rainfall and 48 inches of snowfall per year.  Significant snow accumulation is common during the winter months. It is not uncommon to see some snowfall during the early months of spring and the later months of fall.  The average winter low temperature is -16 F while the record low is -41 F.