Cold/Wind Chill — Perry, Illinois

2014-01-05 to 2014-01-07 · Perry, Illinois

Wider weather episode

Dangerously cold wind chills were observed from late on the night of the 5th through early on the morning of the 7th. Wind chills during this entire period were colder than 10 below zero. The coldest wind chill readings were during the morning of the 6th, when the average wind chills ranged from 20 to 25 below zero along and north of a Carbondale to Carmi line. Average wind chills south of this line were from 15 to 20 below zero. The actual high temperature at Carbondale was 6 degrees on the 6th. This was the most severe cold snap of the 2013-14 winter season. A 46-year-old man died of hypothermia in Du Quoin in Perry County. The man was residing in a portable structure in the back yard of a home. The structure was heated only by a space heater, which was not running when the man's body was found. The extreme cold resulted in many problems with burst pipes and overworked furnaces. Demand for utilities such as gas and electricity was near record highs. Water main breaks occurred as the cold weather put stress on pipes. Arctic high pressure over the Plains states produced a strong northwest wind flow of bitterly cold air across the Lower Ohio Valley and southeast Missouri.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 488835. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.