Cold/Wind Chill — Wayne, Michigan

2019-01-29 to 2019-01-31 · Wayne, Michigan

Wider weather episode

An arctic air outbreak into the Midwest at the end of January 2019 brought extreme low temperatures and dangerous wind chills for several days. Numerous low temperature records were set across the area. The arctic front moved through Southeast Michigan on Tuesday, January 29 and temperatures fell to below zero by early Wednesday morning. In fact, the high temperatures for Wednesday in Detroit and Flint were recorded at midnight as temps remained below zero all day into Thursday. Detroit spent 36 consecutive hours below 0 - this was the longest such streak since Jan. 1994 (66 hours). Flint also spent 36 hours below 0. A tightened pressure gradient over the region and excellent mixing led to winds gusting over 35 mph at times from Tuesday night through Wednesday evening. The result was wind chills near or below -35 for numerous hours. Two deaths were attributed to the cold in Wayne County.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 795779. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.