Extreme Cold/Wind Chill — Osborne, Kansas

2024-01-11 to 2024-01-20 · Osborne, Kansas

Event narrative

The Kansas State Mesonet located in Osborne recorded wind chills of -30 at 11:15 AM on January 13th and -27 at 2:05 AM on January 14th.

Wider weather episode

Mid-January 2024 struck North Central Kansas with a fierce onslaught of bitterly cold temperatures/wind chills along with several rounds of snow, although temperature-wise, this cold air outbreak was ultimately just a bump in the road during an otherwise very mild meteorological winter season (December 2023-February 2024). In terms of basic, overall average/mean temperature, the 10-day stretch from January 11th-20th marked the overall-coldest 10 days across the area in nearly three years...since the February 2021 Arctic outbreak. However, when digging deeper and examining metrics such as consecutive-hour streaks of exceeding particular temperature/wind chill thresholds, portions of this cold snap at least rivaled some of the more extreme conditions endured in over 30 years! The entire six-county area was under at least a Wind Chill Advisory for the majority of these 10 days, with the overall-worst wind chills focused during a Wind Chill Warning that ran from 6 PM on the 12th through 12 PM on the 16th (see below for more specific wind chill info).

Delving into various facts highlighting the significance of this cold stretch, and starting with actual temperatures, the following daily statistics are from the NWS Cooperative observer in Smith Center, where conditions were reasonably representative of North Central Kansas as a whole. First off, the 10-day, overall-average temperature from the 11th-20th was 2.4 F (average daily high temperature 11.7 /average daily low -7.0). This was the coldest 10-day stretch since Feb. 7-16, 2021 (which averaged -0.3). Furthermore, these 10 days averaged an incredible 24.8 F below normal, with daily departures ranging anywhere from 14-35 F below normal. Seven of the 10 days featured high temperatures under 15 F (as cold as -3 on the 13th), and nine of the 10 days registered sub-zero lows (as cold as -15 on the 16th). The overall-coldest days were the 12th-15th and the 19th-20th, as the 17th-18th actually snuck in a brief warm-up with high temperatures into the 20s across most of the area (albeit still several degrees below normal). Looking beyond Smith Center to other local NWS Cooperative Observer sites, some of the coldest readings reported during this stretch were -17 near Burr Oak, -14 at Lovewell Dam and Kirwin Dam, and -13 at Webster Dam. Turning to hourly temperature data and calling upon ASOS observations from the Concordia airport (CNK) located just outside of this North Central Kansas area (but still reasonably representative of it), the TEMPERATURE WAS AT-OR-BELOW ZERO FOR A NOTABLE 52-STRAIGHT HOURS between the mornings of the 13th-15th...falling slightly short of a 58-hour run during Feb. 2021. As for wind chill values, the most brutal conditions of this 10-day period occurred on the 13th-14th, when several automated stations spent multiple hours at least -25 to -35 F. A few of the most extreme wind chills measured by airport AWOS and Kansas Mesonet stations included -35 at Smith Center airport and also near Jewell, -33 at Phillipsburg airport, -31 near Stockton and -30 at Osborne. On the morning of the 14th, these unrelenting wind chills were mainly driven by very cold temperatures between -5 and -10 degrees in the presence of modest winds mainly under 15 MPH. However, on the 13th stronger winds were a bigger factor in the outdoor misery, with sustained speeds commonly 20-30 MPH/gusts up to around 40 MPH. Looking at hourly wind chill data from the Concordia ASOS, it's worth noting that there were 45-CONSECUTIVE HOURS OF WIND CHILLS -15-OR-COLDER...marking the longest stretch in 33 winters (since 51-straight hours in Dec. 1990)!

Despite its significance, this 10-day run of extreme cold actually ended up being a notable anomaly in an otherwise very mild meteorological winter. In fact, per the Cooperative Observer data at Smith Center, meteorological winter as a whole (Dec. 2023-Feb. 2024) actually averaged 2.9 F ABOVE normal...marking the 15th-warmest winter on record out of 85. However, because the 10-day, Jan. 11th-20th stretch was so severely frigid, it actually dragged down the seasonal average by a pronounced margin. In fact, had Jan. 11th-20th simply featured exactly normal temps, the entire three month season would have averaged 2.7 F warmer than it did! In the immediate aftermath of this harsh 10-day stretch, temperatures abruptly righted themselves, as each of the final 11 days of January featured near-to-well-above-normal high temperatures ranging from 31-66 F...as the 21st-31st as a whole averaged more than 6 F ABOVE normal. To be sure, the harshly cold temperatures were not the only weather story across North Central Kansas in mid-January, as most areas also picked up cumulative snowfall of at least 6-12 inches between the 8th-18th, with at-times strong winds also promoting significant blowing/drifting snow. In fact, the NWS Cooperative Observer in Lebanon accumulated 14.8 over that 11-day span, marking the snowiest 11-day period there in 14 winters...since Dec. 2009. Please refer to separate episode/event narratives for more specific details regarding Jan. 2024 snow events.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 1151253. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.