Extreme Cold/Wind Chill — Niobrara County, Wyoming

2024-01-12 to 2024-01-14 · Niobrara County, Wyoming

Event narrative

Overnight low temperatures ranged from -25 F to -30 F across Niobrara County from 1/12 into 1/13, with daytime highs remaining near -15 F during the afternoon on 1/13. The combination of cold temperatures and gusty winds resulted in a prolonged period of extreme wind chills under -45 F. Minimum observed wind chill values reached -57 F at the Van Tassel WYDOT site (3 miles west of Van Tassel) at 4:06 AM MST on 1/13.

Wider weather episode

A period of strong wind gusts occurred across the southeast Wyoming wind corridors from the 11th through the 12th, in advance of an intense arctic cold front which swept across the region later in the day on the 12th. Peak wind gusts reached 79 MPH near Arlington along Interstate 80 between Laramie and Rawlins. Minor snowfall accumulations of 3 to 6 inches also occurred along the Cheyenne and Pine Ridges in southern Goshen and eastern Niobrara county as a result of a weak initial frontal passage between the 10th and 11th. In the wake of the intense arctic cold front that followed, temperatures plunged to between -15 F and -30 F across much of southeast Wyoming, with localized areas of temperatures approaching -40 F. This combined with elevated wind speeds resulted in a prolonged period of wind chills of -35 F to -55 F across a large portion of southeast Wyoming from the evening of 1/12 through the morning of 1/16. Daytime high temperatures ranged from -5 F to -15 F for many locations on 1/13, with Cheyenne and Laramie experiencing their coldest high temperature on record for that date.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 1148854. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.