Extreme Cold/Wind Chill — Thomas, Nebraska

2025-01-20 to 2025-01-21 · Thomas, Nebraska

Event narrative

Across Thomas County, dangerous wind chill values of 30 below or colder began during the evening hours on January 20th through the early morning hours on January 21st. As winds diminished to light southwest and temperatures fell to 10 to 15 below zero, the winds combined to produce a lowest wind chill of of 38 below zero at 153 am CST January 21st at a mesonet site located 13 miles south of Thedford.

Wider weather episode

An arctic airmass brought bitter cold temperatures as cold as 10 below to 19 below zero and dangerous wind chills from 30 below to 39 below zero to portions of north central Nebraska and the western Sandhills. Strong northwesterly winds as high as 25 to 40 mph occurred during the morning into the afternoon hours on January 20th, diminished to a light west to southwest wind during the evening hours into the early morning hours on January 21st. The winds combined to produce a long duration of dangerous wind chills beginning during the morning hours January 20th through the early morning hours on January 21st. The lowest wind chill values from 30 below to 39 below began during the morning hours on January 20th into the early morning hours on January 21st.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 1242116. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.