Extreme Cold/Wind Chill — Vilas, Wisconsin

2025-01-20 to 2025-01-21 · Vilas, Wisconsin

Event narrative

The combination of cold temperatures and gusty winds caused wind chill values to fall to -35 to -48 during the late evening and morning hours.

Wider weather episode

Arctic high pressure brought a cold airmass over northeast Wisconsin from late Sunday night (1/19) through Tuesday morning (1/21). Air temperatures fell to 20 to 30 below zero late Sunday night (1/19) into Monday morning (1/20). Light west winds of 5 to 10 mph allowed wind chills to fall to 35 to 43 below zero across much of north-central and portions of central Wisconsin.

Temperatures warmed during the day on Monday (1/20), with extreme cold temperatures returning Monday evening (1/20) and lasting through late morning on Tuesday (1/21). Air temperatures fell to 10 to 30 below zero Monday night (1/20) into Tuesday morning (1/21). West to northwest winds of 10 to 20 mph allowed wind chills to fall to 30 to nearly 50 below zero across all of northeast Wisconsin.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 1226173. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.