Dave Price, please come back!
This is a copy of a letter I sent today to Dave Price, the weather man for the CBS EarlyShow. He reported live from Mount Rushmore this morning. At the time, the temperature was 23 below zero, according to Nav Singh, Mount Rushmore spokesman.
Dear Dave,
OK, you caught us at a bad time. You were at Mount Rushmore National Memorial this morning when the temperature was 23 degrees below zero. Your visit to the Black Hills was, understandably, short.
It does get cold here once in awhile – like today. But unlike much of the Northern Plains, we in the Black Hills enjoy some amazingly mild winter days. Eight years ago on Jan. 8, the temperature was 72 degrees. (Top that, Bismarck!)
And Spearfish, S.D., still holds the world record for temperature change. On Jan. 22, 1943, a chinook wind blew through, and the temp went from 4 below to 45 above in 2 minutes.
Come back to the Black Hills, we’ll make sure you get a warm welcome – regardless of the weather. We’ll loan you a snowmobile and turn you loose on the 350 miles of groomed Black Hills trails. We’ll give you a pass to ski Terry Peak, where conditions this year are excellent. Or you can slap on a pair of cross-country skis and explore the spectacular silence of Black Hills backcountry.
But just in case, bring your long underwear.
Dan Daly
Deadwood, S.D.
I talked to Nav a short time after the CBS team left the memorial. He said the appearance was a last-minute project. Because of the weather, they had a hard time getting here from Bismarck, N.D. They arrived at 10:30 last night, and didn’t know until 1:30 this morning whether they’d be able to broadcast from Mount Rushmore.
“It was short notice, and a fast event,” he said.
And it was not the best of conditions. “The temperature was 23 below, and the wind was howling on the Grand View Terrace,” Nav said.
Dave Price did four 45-second live broadcasts, cut into the regular show in New York. It was dark, so the Park Service turned on the lights to illuminate the faces. The last dispatch was 7 a.m., and the sun had not yet shone on the memorial.
Despite the cold, Nav said the MorningShow crew was efficient and hard-working. “I take my hat off to them,” he said. But not on the Grand View Terrace at 23 below.
