Extreme Cold/Wind Chill — Mitchell, Kansas

2025-02-17 to 2025-02-20 · Mitchell, Kansas

Wider weather episode

The coldest air of the season dove south and encased north central Kansas in a wintry icebox of extreme cold, wind and light snow. This entry focuses more on the extreme cold/wind chill than the snow. For more detailed impacts of snow, see the 'Winter Weather' event entry dated February 17-18.

A strong 1044 MB surface high pressure system settled across the Central Plains and brought not only a blanket of light snow to the region, but also bitterly cold temperatures and wind chills. Temperatures began to drop on the 17th and 18th, which lead to the two coldest mornings of the winter season on February 19th and 20th. On the morning of the 19th, actual air temperatures dropped to -15 at Webster Dam and -7 at Smith Center, as well as near Plainville and Alton. During the day on the 19th, high temperatures only rose to around zero degrees, but that only set the stage for the coldest night of the winter. Low temperatures by dawn on the 20th generally ranged from -15 to -20 across north central Kansas. The coldest temperatures recorded were 2 miles southwest of Alton and 4 miles south of Burr Oak, both with a frigid -20. Kirwin Dam (-19) and Smith Center (-18) weren't too far behind.

The 'kicker' to the cold was the wind. A steady north wind of 15 to 20 mph with gusts over 25 mph sent wind chills to dangerously cold levels. Wind chills of -15 to -30 were common the night of February 18th. As even colder moved in the next night, wind chills dropped to as low as -38 at the Smith Center Airport and -36 at the Phillipsburg Airport and near Kirwin. Those dangerously cold wind chills linger through the morning hours of the 20th.

No location was spared the extreme cold. Nearly every school in north central Kansas cancelled classes due to the cold weather on the 19th and 20th. Many local activities and events were also canceled or postponed.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 1241191. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.