Extreme Cold/Wind Chill — Thomas, Nebraska

2022-12-21 to 2022-12-24 · Thomas, Nebraska

Event narrative

Across Thomas County, a long duration of dangerous wind chill values of 30 below or colder began during the early afternoon hours on January 21st and continued until the early morning hours on January 24th. Northerly winds as high as 25 to 35 mph with gusts to around 50 mph occurred January 21st through the 22nd to produce the lowest wind chill values. The RAWS site located 2 miles west of Halsey recorded a lowest wind chill of 47 below at 423am CST on December 22nd.

Wider weather episode

An arctic airmass brought very cold temperatures as cold as 10 below to 20 below and dangerous wind chills as low as 39 below to 54 below zero to all of western and north central Nebraska. Northerly winds of 25 to 35 mph with gusts to around 50 mph at times combined to produce a long duration of dangerous wind chills beginning during the early afternoon hours on December 21st until the early morning hours on December 24th.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 1066218. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.