Extreme Cold/Wind Chill — Cuyahoga, Ohio

2019-01-30 to 2019-01-31 · Cuyahoga, Ohio

Event narrative

Extremely cold weather settled over the area on January 30 and 31, bringing the coldest temperatures that the region had seen in four or five years. Low temperatures at Cleveland Hopkins Airport reached -3F on January 30 and -2F on January 31. Low temperatures at Burke Lakefront Airport reached -2F on January 30 and -2F on January 31. With winds gusting to 30 - 35 mph, wind chills across the county dropped below zero midday on January 29 and did not recover to above zero until late on January 31. At Cleveland Hopkins and Burke Lakefront Airports, wind chills reached -25F for a period on January 30. The lowest wind chill recorded during the event at Cleveland Hopkins Airport was -29F and at Burke Lakefront Airport it was -30F, both during the late morning hours of the 30th. All area schools were closed on January 30 and 31 due to the extreme cold. A large water main break occurred in Cleveland's Tremont Neighborhood. Water from this break flooded nearby streets and inundated nearby cars and property. Three deaths occurred in the county due to the extreme cold. One homeless man died from hyopthermia in a vacant home in Cleveland. A woman in Olmsted Township and a man in Euclid also died from hypothermia after being outside during the extreme cold.

Wider weather episode

A strong low pressure system moved through the Great Lakes region on the morning of January 29 and departed into Canada. In the wake of this low, an arctic cold front moved through the lower Great Lakes region early on January 29, allowing for arctic high pressure to build over the midwest, setting up an extremely cold pattern for January 29 - 31. The blistering cold that entered the region resulted in temperatures on January 30 and 31 being some of the coldest recorded in five years. A strong pressure gradient set up over the region between the departing low pressure system and the incoming surface high resulting in winds to 30 - 35 mph across the region. These strong winds along with the extreme cold allowed for wind chills to drop below zero degrees by midday on January 29 and not return above zero until late on January 31. The coldest temperatures during this event were on the morning of January 30 with several locations approaching or exceeding record low temperatures in the -5F to -11F range. During these coldest temperatures, the wind chill reached -25F for several hours across the entire area with several locations reaching wind chill values of -35F to -40F for a time. Temperatures on January 30 stayed near or below zero for much of the day and dropped back below zero on the morning of January 31. Record low temperatures were set again on January 31, but the winds had subsided to 15 to 20 mph across the area, allowing for wind chills in the -15F to -20F range. Temperatures reached the upper single digits during the day on January 31 and winds subsided to light and variable, ending the extreme cold threat. Four deaths were reported in Ohio as a result of the extreme cold. All area schools closed on both January 30 and 31 due to the cold conditions.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 804387. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.