Extreme Cold/Wind Chill — Olmsted, Minnesota

2019-01-29 to 2019-01-31 · Olmsted, Minnesota

Event narrative

In Rochester, one person died from hypothermia after being stranded outside a house during the morning of January 30th. The automated weather observing equipment at the Rochester airport recorded a low temperature of 29 below zero with wind chills as low as 60 below zero.

Wind chills of 35 to 60 below zero were common across Olmsted County from the afternoon of January 29th into the morning of the 31st. The coldest wind chill to occur was 62 below zero at a mesonet station near Stewartville. In Rochester, plans were put in place to use the city buses as a mobile warming shelter but many of the buses could not operate when the diesel fuel gelled after about 3 hours of service in the cold weather. A pipe burst in a furniture store flooding around 3 thousand square feet and destroying numerous pieces of furniture.

Wider weather episode

One person died from hypothermia in Rochester (Olmsted County) on January 30th after being stranded outside a house overnight. Automated weather observing equipment at the Rochester airport recorded a low temperature of 29 below zero with wind chills as low as 60 below zero.

With arctic air in place over southeast Minnesota, air temperatures dropped into the 20s below zero from January 29th into January 31st. A few sites recorded temperatures in the 30s below zero during the mornings of the 30th and 31st. When combined with wind speeds of 5 to 25 mph, wind chills of 35 to 60 below were common. The coldest wind chill to occur was 63 below zero near Dexter (Mower County) and near Ridgeway (Winona County) during the early morning of January 30th. Most southeast Minnesota schools were closed January 29th through the 31st. The U.S. Post Office suspended delivery operations across all of southeast Minnesota on January 30th and 31st. In Austin (Mower County) utility crews responded to over 140 calls for homes without heat and repaired 3 broken water mains. In Rochester, plans were put in place to use the city buses as a mobile warming shelter but many of the buses could not operate when the diesel fuel gelled after about 3 hours of service in the cold weather. A pipe burst in a furniture store flooding around 3 thousand square feet and destroying numerous pieces of furniture.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 800956. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.