Braving the coldest of winds for hot coffee

MONTEVIDEO — Montevideo had the distinction of posting the state’s coldest wind chill on Thursday with a minus 44 reading at the airport at 9:09 a.m.
That was pretty close to the height of the coffee hour at the Trailways Café, where the conversation was very predictable, said longtime employee Linda Bendickson.
“I kept hearing ‘brrr, brrr, it’s cold out there,’’’ said Bendickson.
The dangerous wind chills led the Montevideo Public Schools to cancel classes Thursday, as did all of the neighboring schools, including Clarkfield Charter, Dawson-Boyd, ECHO Charter, Lac qui Parle Valley, MACCRAY, and Yellow Medicine East.
If the danger of transporting young children in these conditions was certainly appreciated, it was otherwise apparent that the crowd at Trailways remains a winter-hardy group.
While they were sure to grumble about the weather, Bendickson said the cold did not hurt business any. It was as busy as ever on Thursday at the café, with good-sized crowds showing up for coffee and lunch, she said.
Wind chill advisories remain in effect for the entire region through noon today.
The list by the National Weather Service of the coldest wind chills in the state Thursday was dominated by western Minnesota. The Morris airport recorded 41 below, the Appleton airport recorded 40 below and a 40-below reading was reported by a state Department of Transportation device near Clara City. The Benson airport recorded 39 below wind chill, and 38 below was recorded at Granite Falls, Pennock and Hanley Falls.