LAKE CLEAR — In a winter that’s not going out without a fight, Saranac Lake smashed another record low temperature.

The mercury fell to 3 degrees below zero at the Adirondack Regional Airport — where the National Weather Service measures Saranac Lake’s official weather metrics — between 6 and 7 a.m. Wednesday morning.

It made Saranac Lake officially the coldest spot in the contiguous United States at that time, a title the community is no stranger to.

Even the geographic majority of Alaska saw warmer low temperatures Wednesday morning than Saranac Lake. Only the northern quarter of “America’s Last Frontier” — all above the Arctic Circle — was colder, according to a combination of official NWS observations and computer weather model outputs there.

Saranac Lake’s previous record for April 8 was minus 1 degree Fahrenheit. That was set more than half a century ago in 1972. Wednesday’s low also marks the second-latest below zero temperature recorded in the spring season, according to the NWS’s Burlington, Vermont forecast office, which serves the Tri-Lakes region.

That record stands at April 12, and it was set in 1926 when NWS Burlington Meterologist Tyler Danzig said the temperature at SLK fell to minus 3 degrees.

It’s usually a bit colder at SLK, about five miles northwest of Saranac Lake, than in the village itself and most other populated areas around the Tri-Lakes. That’s because of some unique topography. The airport is both at a relatively high elevation, 1,663 feet, and sits in a bowl-shaped valley surrounded by yet higher terrain.

Under the right conditions — clear skies, minimal winds and a fresh snowpack — air tends to sink down as it cools off throughout the nighttime, allowing the coldest air to concentrate over the airport. These were all in place Tuesday night and Wednesday morning, according to Danzig.

It didn’t stay frigid for long. These same conditions, buoyed by April’s higher sun angle, conversely allow for rapid daytime warming. Wednesday’s high temperature at SLK topped out in the low 40s.

Despite Wednesday’s record low, the tail end of winter in the Tri-Lakes wasn’t as unforgivingly frigid as the beginning and middle stretches of the season. After a below-average December, January and February, March finished 4.6 degrees Fahrenheit above average, according to an average of high and low temperature measurements from SLK.

There aren’t scientifically perfect measurements. While the high and low temperature values — which are measured using highly calibrated NWS equipment — are very accurate, these daily averages don’t take into account what are often uneven rates of intraday temperature change between those highs and lows. Nonetheless, these averages offer a general idea of how the months have shaken out.

Though stranger things have happened, there are no signs of any more below zero nights, or anything approaching it, for Saranac Lake the rest of this season. With today’s average high and low being 47 and 23 degrees, respectively, Danzig said the rest of last week should have a much closer to normal, if not above average slate of temperatures.