science

Peter Sinks

Peter Sinks is a science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Peter Sinks rather than just read about it. In short: Peter Sinks is a natural sinkhole in northern Utah that is one of the coldest places in the contiguous United States. Peter Sinks is located 8,100 feet (2,500 m) above sea level, in the Bear River Mountains about 20 miles (32 km) northeast of Logan, within the Wasatch-Cache National Forest.

Key takeaways

Peter Sinks belongs to science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Peter Sinks to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Peter Sinks from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Peter Sinks is a natural sinkhole in northern Utah that is one of the coldest places in the contiguous United States. Peter Sinks is located 8,100 feet (2,500 m) above sea level, in the Bear River Mountains about 20 miles (32 km) northeast of Logan, within the Wasatch-Cache National Forest. Due to temperature inversions that trap cold nighttime air, it routinely produces the lowest temperatures in the contiguous United States. Even in the summer, the bottom of the sinkhole rarely goes four consecutive days without freezing. It is so cold near the bottom of the hole that trees are unable to grow.

Geology Peter Sinks lies within the Bear River Mountains of Northern Utah. Composed primarily of limestone and dolomite, water flowing through the groundwater system of the mountain range erodes portions of the material to create caverns by dissolving material within the carbonate rocks. Once these voids reach a large enough size, the ground above will collapse into them to create sinkholes and other karst topography. Peter Sinks is composed of two depressions formed this way. Three other sinkholes, South, Middle, and North, are located just east of Peter Sinks with U.S. Route 89 running through the North Sink. Erosion of these sinks was enhanced by the presence of faulting. Holocene seismicity and faulting in the Bear River Range is associated with the migration of the Yellowstone hotspot located under Yellowstone National Park, which lies to the north of the region, mainly in Wyoming.

Climate Peter Sinks, sitting at an elevation of 8,164 feet (2,488 m), is a natural limestone sinkhole (a doline) approximately one-half mile (0.80 km) wide and has no valley outlet to drain water or air. It is one of the coldest spots in the contiguous United States. During calm, cloudless nights, this high-elevation basin dissipates daytime heat rapidly into the atmosphere. Cool, dense air can then slide downwards towards the basin floor in a process known as cold-air pooling. Consequently, extremely low temperatures can occur, particularly in the wake of arctic fronts in winter. According to the Köppen climate classification, it has a continental subalpine climate, abbreviated Dsc, though the exceptional attributes of this climate preclude one of the hallmark features of the climate type, the boreal forest, which, as Köppen based the system around vegetation distribution, indicates that Peter Sinks stretches the limits of the system.

Extreme cold On February 1, 1985, a temperature of −69.3 °F (−56.3 °C) was recorded there, the lowest recorded temperature in Utah, and the second-lowest temperature ever recorded in the contiguous United States. The lowest recorded temperature was −69.7 °F or −56.5 °C at Rogers Pass, Montana, in 1954. Peter Sinks' meteorological significance was discovered by Utah State University student Zane Stephens in 1983. Stephens, along with the Utah Climate Center, placed measuring instruments in the valley in the winter of 1984. On February 1, 1985, Peter Sinks dropped to −69.3 °F (−56.3 °C), while another nearby valley, Middle Sink, located 3 miles (4.8 km) to the north-east, dropped to −64 °F (−53.3 °C). Stephens hiked into Middle Sink along with Burns Israelsen to record the temperature personally. He then flew into Peter Sinks in a KUTV television station helicopter with broadcasting meteorologist Mark Eubank. State climatologist Gayle Bingham also traveled to the area and confirmed the temperature. The alcohol thermometer being used was retrieved and sent to the Bureau of Standards in Washington, D.C., to confirm the temperature. Since 1985, Peter Sinks and Middle Sink have been studied extensively by Stephens and Tim Wright with the use of Campbell Scientific weather equipment. On January 29, 2002, and again on January 30, 2023, the temperature dropped to −62 °F (−52.2 °C) at Middle Sink. Stephens and Wright's main study is the change in temperature through the inversion at these sites. These valleys act like a dam trapping cold air, with the coldest of the air settling to the bottom of the valley. Stephens and Wright have found that temperatures between the cold air "lake" and the warmer air above the valley can differ by as much as 70 °F (39 °C).

See also List of sinkholes of the United States Cold-air pool

References

External links Peter Sinks - Utah Climate Center - real-time temperature monitoring of Peter Sinks and rim temperatures. Maintained by the Utah Climate Center Peter Sinks Temperature Monitoring Project - current project by Utah State University for onsite remote automated monitoring at Peter Sinks Peter Sinks Field Experiment by John Horel in 1999 - includes map and photos "The Coldest Places on Earth". Wunderground.com. January 19, 2011.

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Peter Sinks

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Peter Sinks claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Peter Sinks before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Peter Sinks ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Peter Sinks

In research: Peter Sinks appears in science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Peter Sinks in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Peter Sinks is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Landforms of Cache County, Utah, Mountain meteorology, Protected areas of Cache County, Utah, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Peter Sinks outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Peter Sinks in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Peter Sinks means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Peter Sinks out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Peter Sinks in simple terms?

Why does Peter Sinks matter?

Because it connects several science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Peter Sinks?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Peter Sinks.