Extreme Cold/Wind Chill — Wheeler, Nebraska

2025-02-18 to 2025-02-20 · Wheeler, Nebraska

Event narrative

Across Wheeler County, a long duration of dangerous wind chill values of 20 below or colder began during the early morning hours on January 18th through the early morning hours on February 20th. Although winds remained generally light throughout the event, winds combined to produce a lowest wind chill of 36 below zero at the nearby O'Neill AWOS at 755am CST on February 19th and 44 below zero at 455 am CST on February 20th.

Wider weather episode

An arctic airmass brought an extended period of bitter cold temperatures as cold as 20 to 34 below zero and dangerous wind chills as low as 30 below to around 50 below zero to all of western and north central Nebraska. Although winds remained generally light throughout the event, winds combined to produce a long duration of dangerous wind chills beginning during the early morning hours on February 18th through the early morning hours on February 20th. The lowest wind chill values from 40 below to 52 below zero occurred during early morning hours on February 19th and again during the early morning hours on February 20th.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 1248391. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.