Dakota
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Hi, I'm Bryan Yeaton, and this is The Weather Notebook.

What's in a name, besides coldness? Well, according to commentator Bob Henson , one northern U.S. state is considering a new, less chilly moniker.

How often do you hear about a state changing its name? That's exactly what the Greater North Dakota Association wants to do. They'd love to get rid of the "North" and make their state’s name just plain "Dakota." I have to admit this news got me a little excited. I was born just a year after Alaska and Hawaii joined the union, so I’ve been waiting all my life for something to happen on the statehood front. It seems that some North Dakotans are worried the public sees their state as flat, treeless, and bitterly cold. Well, this made me wonder, is it really all that cold up there? It turns out the state's all-time high is a scorching 121 degrees. Only four other states have ever been hotter than that. And the coldest on record for North Dakota is a mere 60 below zero. It's actually been colder in five other states. Also, much of the nation beats out North Dakota on snowfall, including New England, the Great Lakes, and the Rockies. On the other hand, Arctic air masses do tend to enter the nation via North Dakota, so the wind chills can be positively brutal. And cold air can settle in across the Red River Valley for months at a time. A friend of mine came up with the perfect solution to NorthDakota's identity crisis. It's a name that combines a tropical feeling with just a bit of international flair. He thinks they should start calling themselves: South Canada.

Commentator Bob Henson tames the cold in Boulder, Colorado. The Weather Notebook is a production of the Mount Washington Observatory and is supported by Subaru. Check us out on the net a weathernotebook.org.