AC & Outside Temp sensors

[William J Murin <murin@uwp.edu>]

I had a really wierd experience this morning.  Hope someone can help.

The outside air temp indicator was reading its usual 10 degrees (F) off on
a 100 mile drive this morning.  For no apparent reason the thing all of a
suden went to -47 degrees and seriously hot air began puring into the
interior of the car.  

turned it all off, stopped for a cup of coffee, got back in the car and
the outside temp indicator was reading -50 (it does not get that cold in
wisconsin in the Summer).

About another 10 miles down the road I checked the reading again and it
jumped to -13, then 40 something then settled in on about 56 degrres.
with that the AC cycled on and has worked fine since.

What is the relationship between the outside air temp reading on my dash
and whether or not the climate control system outs hot hot or cold air?

what's the likely cause of the probem?

Can I safely assume that it will simply get worse over time and will not
"fix" itself?

Thanks

Bill Murin
89 100q
151000 miles