Jan 18-25 Cold Wave

[cyclone77]

Only -4 for a high this afternoon.  Pretty hard around here to get a below zero high temp with zero snow on the ground, but we did it.  Pretty impressive.  

Lowest wind chill hit -38 early this morning.

[Danny8]

13 hours ago, Malacka11 said:

Tell me I'm not tweaking... I noticed on this mornings dawg walk that climbing planes from O'Hare sounded comparatively hifi. Even from definitely a few thousand feet up you could hear tarmac-style turbine whine, yk that more shrill sound, echoing loudly off of adjacent apartment buildings quite literally the way it sounds in a terminal.

I actually had a hard time finding them because the higher frequency sounds making it farther down are ofc coming when the plane is directly above you, which my monkey brain was not computing properly with how loud the sound was. Even with a clear sky, I just wasn't looking for hoes that far up and was therefore surprised when I realized.

Ig I'm just shocked that if it's as simple as cold air = denser = transmits delicate high frequency sound waves better, that it makes such a massive difference between say 20° and -9° compared to 20° and 80°. 

Just saw your post but I had been thinking the same thing all day! Planes definitely sounded different to me as well. I’m about 10 miles east of ORD

[sbnwx85]

14 hours ago, Malacka11 said:

Tell me I'm not tweaking... I noticed on this mornings dawg walk that climbing planes from O'Hare sounded comparatively hifi. Even from definitely a few thousand feet up you could hear tarmac-style turbine whine, yk that more shrill sound, echoing loudly off of adjacent apartment buildings quite literally the way it sounds in a terminal.

I actually had a hard time finding them because the higher frequency sounds making it farther down are ofc coming when the plane is directly above you, which my monkey brain was not computing properly with how loud the sound was. Even with a clear sky, I just wasn't looking for hoes that far up and was therefore surprised when I realized.

Ig I'm just shocked that if it's as simple as cold air = denser = transmits delicate high frequency sound waves better, that it makes such a massive difference between say 20° and -9° compared to 20° and 80°. 

Planes landing at South Bend go right over where I work. When I was leaving I thought we had one coming right at me. I looked up and it was normal altitude, but the cold air must make the sound travel more efficiently. I thought I was going crazy but glad I’m at least not alone.

Down to -6 now. HRRR has a low of -13 with snow pack and clear skies it is certainly possible. Record today is -17.

[frostfern]

GRR is sitting at -16.  Daily record is -20.  All time is -24.  There’s some -20s showing up in more rural areas nearby though.  It seems like higher dewpoints are holding temperatures higher some places.  

It’s hard to get extreme lows here in West Michigan as normally westerly flow off the lake doesn’t diminish until the coldest core of 850 temps has passed.  This is kind of a rare setup where the 850 cold pool is stalling directly overhead with light winds.

[michsnowfreak]

-10° here this morning. I think DTW low also -10 but unsure yet. Cold spot Ann Arbor hit -21°!

This is not my photo, but an incredible shot of a -10° sunrise over the Detroit River in Wyandotte.

[OrdIowPitMsp]

-15 at MSP

[cutlew]

-22 at home away from the MSP heat island. Makes the -23 we hit yesterday with all the wind seem even more impressive though.

Good swath of -30s from northern WI across northern MN, looks like a few places just squeaked under -40.


.

[beavis1729]

40 minutes ago, cutlew said:

-22 at home away from the MSP heat island. Makes the -23 we hit yesterday with all the wind seem even more impressive though.

Good swath of -30s from northern WI across northern MN, looks like a few places just squeaked under -40.


.

Yeah, temps tanked overnight up there where skies cleared with calm winds, much colder than forecast. Manitowish Waters WI hit -38, and Minocqua -34. Even as far south as Stevens Point, it was -25.

[beavis1729]

Just saw in the NE forum cold thread that the Brunson, MN coop hit -43.

[Brian D]

-30's with some -40's (upper -10's - low -20's along the shore). Big winner was Seagull Lake at -43. Out of 16 stns I checked across MN/WI, half made top 3-5 temps with Hibbing the only record breaker at -35 (-31 1961/87/08).

Update: 2 other stns hit -43

[Brian D]

Hefty avg departures yesterday, upper -20's to low -30's, across MN/WI. Very significant cold wave. From a wx stand point, love it. From a practical one, hate it. Too harsh.

[madwx]

On 1/23/2026 at 9:44 AM, Malacka11 said:

Tell me I'm not tweaking... I noticed on this mornings dawg walk that climbing planes from O'Hare sounded comparatively hifi. Even from definitely a few thousand feet up you could hear tarmac-style turbine whine, yk that more shrill sound, echoing loudly off of adjacent apartment buildings quite literally the way it sounds in a terminal.

I actually had a hard time finding them because the higher frequency sounds making it farther down are ofc coming when the plane is directly above you, which my monkey brain was not computing properly with how loud the sound was. Even with a clear sky, I just wasn't looking for hoes that far up and was therefore surprised when I realized.

Ig I'm just shocked that if it's as simple as cold air = denser = transmits delicate high frequency sound waves better, that it makes such a massive difference between say 20° and -9° compared to 20° and 80°. 

On cold calm nights 747 freighters departing ohare will climb overhead at 20,000+ feet and sound like rockets. On a normal summer night you can barely hear them