Extreme Cold/Wind Chill — Bourbon, Kansas

2022-12-22 to 2022-12-24 · Bourbon, Kansas

Event narrative

A minimum wind chill of -27 degrees was reported at the Fort Scott AWOS station around midday on December 22nd with a minimum temperature of -6 degrees that morning. In addition, morning low temperatures on December 24th of 5 degrees were measured at the Mesonet site 3 miles northwest of Uniontown and at the Fort Scott AWOS station, with minimum wind chills at those two stations of -12 degrees and -10 degrees, respectively.

Wider weather episode

A storm system initially brought one to two hours of freezing drizzle during the early morning hours of December 22nd before precipitation changed over to light snow. A brief band of moderate to heavy snow then moved southeast across the area during the mid to late morning, leading to visibilities as low as one quarter of a mile along with very gusty winds and blowing snow at times. Light snow lingered for another hour or two behind the heavier snow band before coming to an end. The light glaze of ice became covered by generally 1 to 2 inches of snow, leading to slick roads across the area. Numerous schools that weren't already off for the Christmas Holiday cancelled school for both December 22nd and December 23rd.

Brutally cold temperatures and wind chills also settled into the area with and behind the snowfall. Record to near record low temperatures were common on the morning of December 23rd with subzero lows, highs in the single digits above zero, and minimum wind chills as low as -20 to -30 degrees. Cold low temperatures in the single digits above zero and wind chills in the single digits to teens below zero continued into the morning of December 24th, as well.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 1063255. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.