Cold/Wind Chill — Mitchell, Iowa

2024-01-15 · Mitchell, Iowa

Event narrative

An automated weather observation station reported a wind chill of 34 degrees below zero in Osage.

Wider weather episode

A multi-faceted winter storm event through the middle of January ushered in an arctic airmass with bitter cold into Martin Luther King Junior Day. A 20 to 30 degree drop in minimum temperatures from January 13th through January 14th ushered in minimum temperatures of 10 to 20 degrees below zero across northeast Iowa. These bitterly cold temperatures lingered into the morning of Martin Luther King Junior Day on January 15th. While sustained winds largely remained calm, occasional gusts pushing 10 to 20 mph at times resulted in wind chill temperatures of 30 to 40 degrees below zero. Minimum wind chill reports were -39 degrees in Greene (Floyd County), -38 degrees in Oelwein (Fayette County),-37 degrees in Saratoga (Howard County), and -36 degrees near Dougherty (Floyd County).

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 1158182. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.