Cold/Wind Chill — Boone, Indiana

2025-01-21 to 2025-01-22 · Boone, Indiana

Event narrative

Temperatures on the morning of the 21st were as low as 0F, with sustained winds around 17 mph...resulting in marginally extreme wind chills as low as -21F.

Temperatures earlier in the morning of the 22nd were as low as -3F, with sustained winds around 10...resulting in marginally extreme wind chills as low as -20F.

Wider weather episode

A broad and deep upper-level trough over North America allowed a wide and amplified surface ridge of arctic high pressure to plunge through the central United States during January 18-22. The very cold northeastern quadrant of this ridge meanwhile crossed the Midwest, accompanied by an at-times moderate surface pressure gradient along the broad perimeter of the 1046-hPa high pressure center crossing the central Plains. From late day on January 19 through midday January 22, temperatures across central Indiana ranged between mainly -10 and 15 degrees; surface winds meanwhile were at times sustained at 15 to 25 mph, gusting as high as 20 to 30 mph.

Resultant wind chill values across central Indiana from the morning of January 20 through the overnight ending on January 22, fell to daily minimums generally as low as -10 to -25 degrees. Criteria wind chill values of -20 degrees or lower occurred in modest to rather large sub-regional patches over mainly northern central Indiana counties: on the morning of January 20 in 8 zones focuses both north of Indianapolis and from Muncie to Rushville; during the early morning of January 21 in 16 zones northwest of a line from Greencastle to Muncie; and finally, during the overnight ending on January 22 in 17 zones focused northeast of a line from Crawfordsville to Greensburg.

Daily minimum wind chill values were typically accompanied by sustained winds around 12-18 mph; lowest daily county wind chills that reached criteria were mainly -22 to -20 degrees, excepting an area of -25 values northwest of the Indianapolis Metro on the morning of the 21st.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 1231937. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.