Snow-International Falls TB

I maintain records on my trackables. They have the goal to circulate more than five years and to be moved by at least 25 cachers. That is a target rate of five drops per year for five years, or a drop every 73 days. The average drop rate of my trackables in the US is 124 days, in Europe it is 71 days. As of 3-Jul-22 this one has survived for 7.3 years but it had been moved by only 18 cachers, for an average drop every 148 days. Please keep it moving!

No permission is needed to leave the U.S. While in the U.S., please drop it in a Premium Member only OR a rural cache near a busy trail or road. Do not place it in an urban cache or abandon it at a caching event where there is no security. Transport the bug in the original plastic bag for as long as the bag lasts; the bag keeps the trackable clean and dry, protects the number and prevents tangling with other items. Otherwise, take the trackable anywhere you wish.

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.

International Falls, Minnesota.  International Falls is a city in and the county seat of Koochiching County, Minnesota, United States.  The population was 6,424 at the 2010 census.  The city is located on the Rainy River directly across from Fort Frances, Ontario, Canada. The two cities are connected by the Fort Frances-International Falls International Bridge.  

International Falls has the nickname "Icebox of the Nation", and with 109.4 days per year with maxima below 32 °F, the airport has the most such days of any incorporated city in the contiguous US, just shading nearby Duluth and Houghton.   It has long, bitterly cold winters with January averages 2.7 °F, and lows reach 0 °F on 58 nights annually.  Highs only reach the freezing point 14–15 days during December to February, and in combination with a seasonal snowfall of 71.6 inches, snow cover is thick and long-lasting.

International Falls has long promoted itself as the "Icebox of the Nation"; however, the trademark for the slogan has been challenged on several occasions by the small town of Fraser, Colorado.  Officials from Fraser claimed usage since 1956, International Falls since 1948.  The two towns came to an agreement in 1986, when International Falls paid Fraser $2,000 to relinquish its "official" claim. However, in 1996, International Falls inadvertently failed to renew its federal trademark, although it had kept its state trademark up to date.  Fraser then filed to gain the federal trademark.  International Falls submitted photographic proof that its 1955 Pee Wee hockey team traveled to Boston, Massachusetts with the slogan.  After several years of legal battles, the United States Patent and Trademark Office officially registered the slogan with International Falls on January 29, 2008, Registration Number 3375139.  Only a few days after announcing its success in the trademark battle, International Falls had a daily record low temperature of −40 °F, beating a previous record of −37 °F in 1967.