Extreme Cold/Wind Chill — Wyandot, Ohio

2014-01-27 to 2014-01-28 · Wyandot, Ohio

Event narrative

A dangerously cold air mass settled over northern Ohio from January 27-28th with wind chill values of -25 to -30 degrees during the early morning hours of January 28th. The wind chill dropped to -33 at Findlay and -32 at Marion between 6 and 8 am on January 28th with west to southwest winds of 5 to 15 mph. A record low temperature of -10 degrees was set that morning at Toledo and tied the previous record for that day from 1977. A record low of -15 also occurred at Mansfield and broke the record of -14 from 1977. Conditions started to improve by late morning as temperatures gradually recovered into the single digits but dropped below zero again overnight. All area school were closed on January 28th and most were closed on January 29th.

Wider weather episode

Low pressure tracked across the northern Great Lakes on January 26 and 27th, pulling an arctic cold front east across the area during the early morning hours of January 27th. Temperatures ahead of the front were in the upper 30s and lower 40s, falling through the day on the 27th with dangerously cold wind chill values developing during the early morning hours of the 28th. West to southwest winds of 5 to 15 mph combined with temperatures as low as -15 degrees to produce the wind chill conditions. Findlay recorded the coldest wind chill value reported in northern Ohio of -33 degrees at 553 am on the 28th. Many locations recorded the very cold wind chills between 1 am and 10 am before temperatures started to recover. Also noteworthy were record low temperatures set at Toledo and Mansfield of -10 and -15 degrees respectively, breaking the previous records from 1977. Temperatures only recovered into the single digits during the day on the 28th and then fell to sub zero values again overnight. Nearly all schools were closed on the 28th with most school also closed on the 29th.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 496655. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.