At the age of 87, Jane Breakey of Eagle Bay has many recollections of life growing up in the area which are permanently frozen in her memory bank—some of which are literally about being frozen.
One such memory was of a particularly brutal 1934 walk to the Town of Webb School when the air temperature dipped to a remarkable 59 below zero.
“I was in the second grade, just short of my eighth birthday. I remember my face was frozen by the time I got to school,” Jane said.
Frustrated by the fact that the Old Forge freeze-over of February 18, 1979—when the mercury plummeted to minus 52 degrees—is set in the record books and residents’ memories as the all-time low in New York state, Jane turned to Kate Lewis, executive director of the Town of Webb Historical Association, to see if she could find any information to substantiate her assertion.
Lewis’ investigation turned up two clippings from unidentified publications, both dated February 10, 1934, backing-up Jane’s claim.
However, as described in one of the articles, the minus 59 reading was an estimated figure as the thermometer from which it was taken only registered as far as 55 below.
The mercury rested some distance below that last marking and was computed accordingly to reach the estimate.