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Coldest wind chill by state


beavis1729
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Morning of 01/30/96 north central Montana had lows as extreme -40°, even some unofficial locations approaching -50° near the Canadian border. Estimated wind chills on the new scale were pushing close to -75 - -80° with 15-20mph winds.

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Morning of 01/30/96 north central Montana had lows as extreme -40°, even some unofficial locations approaching -50° near the Canadian border. Estimated wind chills on the new scale were pushing close to -75 - -80° with 15-20mph winds.

I couldn't find any official wind chill readings lower than -50 in late January 1996...but I'll keep looking. In the meantime, there is always good old January 1982:

Montana

Glasgow, 1/6/1982: wind chill -55 (temp -35, wind 7 mph)

http://www.wunderground.com/history/airport/KGGW/1982/1/6/DailyHistory.html?req_city=NA&req_state=NA&req_statename=NA

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I couldn't find any official wind chill readings lower than -50 in late January 1996...but I'll keep looking. In the meantime, there is always good old January 1982:

Montana

Glasgow, 1/6/1982: wind chill -55 (temp -35, wind 7 mph)

http://www.wundergro...eq_statename=NA

It was mentioned in a news article. I'll see if I can find it again. Hopefully I converted to the new scale correctly. - But there was mention of -90 wind chills in areas of the state that morning. Of course that would be on the old scale.

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February 1936 might also be worth checking. It was ridiculously cold especially in the northern Plains/upper Midwest.

Although this isn't Feb '36 it is in Jan of that year.

What is the coldest windchill ever seen in the Twin Cities or Minnesota? The answer can be a little tricky because on November 2001 the formula on how to calculate the windchill was changed. Perhaps the coldest windchill the Twin Cities has ever seen was -67 degrees F with the new formula (-87 degrees F with the old formula) back on January 22nd 1936. The temperature was -34 degrees F with a wind speed of 20mph. All traffic in the Twin Cities was severely hampered and a number of fatalities were caused by the cold. Without a lengthy state-wide wind record, it is difficult to say when was the coldest statewide windchill. There are some candidate dates though besides January 22, 1936. On January 9th and 10th, 1982 temperatures of -30 degrees F and winds of around 40mph were reported in Northern Minnesota. This would translate to -71 degrees F by the new formula (-100 degrees F by the old formula.)

Link to site I got this from

http://climate.umn.edu/doc/journal/historic_windchills.htm

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  • 5 years later...
8 hours ago, HighTechEE said:

Not sure if this is a record, but Christmas Eve '83 was a b**ch in Ohio, here's KDAY:

12/24/1983 7:00PM  -15.0°F   -43.2°F   -27.9°F   52%  30.45in   4.0mi  West  23.0mph

 

  My dad told me in 1983 he had a temperature of -18F or -19F and a WC of -75F to -78F using the old wind chill formula. That was Christmas Eve 1983 in Emporia, Kansas but he was out in a more open area and probably colder than in town. I think on the new WC scale it would be like -50F to -53F. I tend to think it may be somewhere in the low to mid -50s but I could be wrong. 

 

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9 hours ago, HighTechEE said:

Not sure if this is a record, but Christmas Eve '83 was a b**ch in Ohio, here's KDAY:

12/24/1983 7:00PM  -15.0°F   -43.2°F   -27.9°F   52%  30.45in   4.0mi  West  23.0mph

  I found this for  Mansfield, Ohio on January 20, 1985. The temp was -22.0F with a wind speed of 24.2 mph creating a WC value of -53.1F. https://www.wunderground.com/history/airport/KMFD/1985/1/20/DailyHistory.html?req_city=&req_state=&req_statename=&reqdb.zip=&reqdb.magic=&reqdb.wmo=

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On 4/6/2018 at 8:52 PM, beavis1729 said:

Updated list of coldest wind chills by state, in order of coldest first.  Feel free to add states, or clarify details.

AK: -102 (Deadhorse, 1/28/1989)
MN: -66 (Duluth, 1/10/1982)
ND: -66 (Minot AFB, 2/1/1996)

SD:  -58 (Aberdeen, 2/9/1994)

IL: -58 (Chicago, 12/24/1983)
WY: -55 (Casper, 12/21/1990)
MT: -55 (Glasgow, 1/6/1982)
IA: -54 (Mason City, 2/2/1996)

WI: -54 (Madison, 1/20/1985)

NE: --58 (Chadron, 12/21/1989)

OH: -53 (Mansfield, 1/20/1985)

OK:  -47 (2/10/2011)

KS: -47 (Goodland, 2/5/1982)
FL: -10 (Pensacola, 1/21/1985)

 

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  On February 5, 1982 at 6:43 am there is an unknown temperature with a wind speed of 16.1 mph. So depending on whether the temp was -22F or -23F it would make the WC -48F or -50F. Most Kansas offices have no good records but Goodland has some really good records. https://www.wunderground.com/history/airport/KGLD/1982/2/5/DailyHistory.html?req_city=&req_state=&req_statename=&reqdb.zip=&reqdb.magic=&reqdb.wmo=

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  Here is the record for Chadron, Nebraska. https://www.wunderground.com/history/airport/KCDR/1989/12/21/DailyHistory.html?req_city=&req_state=&req_statename=&reqdb.zip=&reqdb.magic=&reqdb.wmo=

  I think it is likely Kansas has had -50F or colder WC's just no records to indicate it. My dad told me he had a temperature of -19F wind winds blowing between 25 and 35 mph in Emporia back in 1983. However no records to confirm it. He had a wind chill of possibly -50F to -52F(-72F to -77F using old formula). 

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6 hours ago, beavis1729 said:

Good stuff! Thanks Blackjack.

Updated list by state...in order of coldest WC first:

AK: -102 (Deadhorse, 1/28/1989)
MN: -66 (Duluth, 1/10/1982)
ND: -66 (Minot AFB, 2/1/1996)

SD:  -58 (Aberdeen, 2/9/1994)

NE: -58 (Chadron, 12/21/1989)

IL: -58 (Chicago, 12/24/1983)

WI: -56 (Milwaukee, 1/10/1982)
WY: -55 (Casper, 12/21/1990)
MT: -55 (Glasgow, 1/6/1982)
IA: -54 (Mason City, 2/2/1996)

OH: -53 (Mansfield, 1/20/1985)

OK:  -47 (2/10/2011)

KS: -47 (Goodland, 2/5/1982)
FL: -10 (Pensacola, 1/21/1985)

 -63 Watertown, SD. January 10, 1982.https://www.wunderground.com/history/airport/KATY/1982/1/10/DailyHistory.html?req_city=&req_state=&req_statename=&reqdb.zip=&reqdb.magic=&reqdb.wmo=

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  • 1 month later...

  I was 4 when that happened. I do remember the 1989 cold snap when I was 9. Temperature around -22F with winds at least 10mph making the wind chill near -45F on todays scale. I lived in Kansas and I put my foot out the door to see what it felt like for about 15 seconds. It feels like pins and needles or razor blades going through your skin. 

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On 5/25/2018 at 1:13 PM, beavis1729 said:

Fun times.  My first weather memory is the December 1983 arctic outbreak, when I was 9.

For some reason, I don't remember January 1985...when ORD hit -27.  I wasn't enough of a cold weenie then... :D 

  You probably wouldn't have been able to tell the difference in feel between both outbreaks. Wind Chills of  -40F to -55F will frostbite your exposed skin in 5 to 10 minutes at most.

 

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Thanks for the info and documentation, KK.  Impressive numbers in Waterloo on Christmas Eve 1983. 

While the difference between -40 and -55 WCs may not be that noticeable, I think there is a huge difference between WCs in the -40s vs. the -20s. Most winters, we have a few days with wind chills in the -20s, which is generally tolerable.  Once you hit a -40 WC, it's a different world.

The last bitter air I experienced was 1/6/2014, when ORD hit -16...and IMBY it was -17 with 25 mph sustained winds, creating wind chills in the -40s.  Temps stayed in the -10 to -15 range during much of the afternoon and evening, and there was a foot of snow on the ground.  It looked like the arctic tundra. :wub:

 

 

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   Another things that seem strange is Kansas and Missouri all time record low temps are -40F which both occurred on February 13, 1905 in Lebanon, Kansas and Warsaw, Missouri. That actually is colder than the all time record lows of Illinois(-36F), Indiana(-36F)and Ohio(-39F). Iowa is -47F which is colder but those 4 states especially Iowa and Illinois tend to get more brutal winds and colder temperatures more often than Kansas and Missouri. 

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On 5/30/2018 at 11:30 PM, Knightking2018 said:

   Waterloo, Iowa December 24, 1983. Temp -26F winds 37 mph wind chill -64F. 

   Lebo, Kansas January 20, 1985. Temp -23F winds 20 mph wind chill -52F.

  Map of the cold snap on January 20, 1985.

https://www.weather.gov/ilm/january1985cold

   

      Mount Washington, New Hampshire January 16, 2004. Temperature -44F winds 88 mph wind chill -103F. That would literally frostbite any exposed flesh in a matter of seconds. 

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7 hours ago, Knightking2018 said:

   Another things that seem strange is Kansas and Missouri all time record low temps are -40F which both occurred on February 13, 1905 in Lebanon, Kansas and Warsaw, Missouri. That actually is colder than the all time record lows of Illinois(-36F), Indiana(-36F)and Ohio(-39F). Iowa is -47F which is colder but those 4 states especially Iowa and Illinois tend to get more brutal winds and colder temperatures more often than Kansas and Missouri. 

The Kansas/Missouri records being colder is a little surprising, but there could be various reasons.  Even could be some microclimate thing. 

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On 6/2/2018 at 11:12 AM, Hoosier said:

The Kansas/Missouri records being colder is a little surprising, but there could be various reasons.  Even could be some microclimate thing. 

On January 20, 1985  Munice, Indiana likely had a temp of -24F with a wind of 26 mph creating a wind chill value of -57F. Very impressive for Indiana. The low in Muncie was -24F and winds were between 22 and 29 mph. To be more conservative if you go with a temp of -24F with winds of 22 mph you get a wind chill of -55F. That would be a safe bet.

 

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