Extreme Cold/Wind Chill — Western Cherry, Nebraska

2024-01-12 to 2024-01-16 · Western Cherry, Nebraska

Event narrative

Across Western Cherry County, a long duration of dangerous wind chill values of 30 below or colder began during the evening hours on January 12th through the morning hours on January 16th. Northerly winds as high as 20 to 35 mph occurred at times during the event. The winds combined to produce a lowest wind chill of 45 below at McKelvie National Forest RAWS site at 449 am MST on January 14th. The nearby Gordon AWOS also recorded a lowest wind chill of 48 below at 415 am MST on January 13th and 47 below at 115 am MST on January 14th.

Wider weather episode

Two consecutive arctic airmasses brought an extended period of bitter cold temperatures as cold as 10 below to 25 below zero and dangerous wind chills as low as 30 below to around 50 below zero to all of western and north central Nebraska. Strong northerly winds of 20 to 30 mph with gusts to 40 mph occurred during the first half of the event from the evening hours on January 12th through the afternoon hours on January 13th. The winds combined to produce a long duration of dangerous wind chills beginning during the evening hours on January 12th through the morning hours on January 16th. The lowest wind chill values from 35 below to 53 below occurred between the morning hours on January 13th through the morning hours on January 14th.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 1150019. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.