USA National Forecast

Polar Vortex Triggers Coldest Arctic Outbreak in at Least Two Decades in Parts of the Midwest

At a Glance

Extreme cold in the Midwest broke numerous daily records and a few all-time records.
For some in the upper Midwest, it was the coldest outbreak since the 1990s.
A preliminary all-time state record low may have been set in Illinois.
While not as cold, some bitterly cold air also filtered into the Northeast.

The arctic cold outbreak of January 2019 will go down as the coldest in parts of the upper Midwest since the 1990s, shattering numerous daily records and even topping a few all-time cold records, while creating wind chills as cold as the 60s below zero.

(NEWS: Impacts From the Cold Outbreak)

Mount Carroll, Illinois, may have set a new all-time record low for the state of Illinois Thursday morning, Jan. 31, with a temperature of minus 38 degrees.

An ad hoc state climate extremes committee will examine the data and determine whether it will officially be accepted as a new state record, which would beat the current all-time Illinois cold record of minus 36 degrees set Jan. 5, 1999, in Congerville. A second location, Morrison, preliminarily tied the all-time record of minus 36 degrees.

At least four locations tied or set all-time record lows:

Minus 43 degrees northwest of Mather, Wisconsin, on Wednesday, Jan. 30, tied the all-time low at that location in records dating to 1903.
Minus 33 degrees Thursday morning, Jan. 31, in Moline, Illinois, shattered the all-time record low of minus 28 degrees from Feb. 3, 1996.
Minus 31 degrees in Rockford, Illinois, Thursday morning, Jan. 31, topped its previous record of minus 27 degrees from Jan. 10, 1982.
Minus 30 degrees in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, Thursday morning, Jan. 31, beat the previous all-time record of minus 29 degrees.

At least 340 daily cold records were broken or tied in the Midwest alone from Jan. 30 through Jan. 31, according to the Midwest Regional Climate Center.

A sampling of low temperatures across the Midwest Jan. 30-31, 2019.

Among the daily record lows set on Jan. 31 were Grand Forks, North Dakota (minus 32 degrees), Detroit (minus 14 degrees), La Crosse, Wisconsin (minus 33 degrees), Pittsburgh (minus 5 degrees) and several other locations.

The coldest temperature early Jan. 31 was minus 56 degrees in Cotton, Minnesota. That was just a few degrees short of the state's all-time record low of minus 60 degrees set in Tower on Feb. 2, 1996. NWS-Duluth meteorologist Joe Moore told The Wall Street Journal that only some morning fog limited how far the temperature plunged at the observation site in Cotton.

One instigator for this outbreak of cold air was a displacement of a lobe of the polar vortex to a position over the Great Lakes, according to a wunderground.com blog entry from Jeff Masters and Bob Henson.

(MORE: Satellite Imagery Made the Cold Resemble a Giant, Oozing Cloud)

Other Late-January Cold Plunge Notables

Here are some other notables about this cold outbreak:

Minus 23 degrees Wednesday, Jan. 30, at Chicago's O'Hare Airport was its coldest temperature in 34 years, when its all-time record low of minus 27 degrees was set.
Chicago O'Hare was below zero for 52 straight hours, the fourth longest streak on record, there, according to the National Weather Service.
Minus-60s wind chills were recorded in parts of Minnesota, North Dakota and northeastern Iowa Tuesday night, Jan. 29, into Wednesday, Jan. 30. Minus 66 degrees was the coldest wind chill observed in this arctic outbreak in Ponsford, Minnesota, Tuesday evening, Jan. 29.

Minus-50s wind chills were observed Wednesday morning, Jan. 30, as far south as central Illinois and northwestern Indiana, including much of Chicagoland and the Milwaukee metro area.
Numerous daily record lows for Jan. 30 were set from the Midwest into parts of the Northeast.

Minus 49 degrees was reported west of Rugby, North Dakota, Wednesday morning, Jan. 30. Lake Metigoshe State Park plunged to minus 46 degrees.
Minus 20 degrees in Des Moines, Iowa, Wednesday, Jan. 30, was its first temperature in the minus 20s since Feb. 4, 1996.
Minus 26 degrees Monday morning, Jan. 28, at the National Weather Service office outside of Marquette, Michigan, smashed a daily record low set in 2014.
A minus-82-degree wind chill was observed Monday, Jan. 28, in northern Manitoba and southern Nunavut, Canada, according to the National Weather Service.
Minus 46 degrees Sunday morning, Jan. 27, in International Falls, Minnesota, set a daily record low. This also tied as the fifth-coldest temperature on record there for any day of the year.
Minus 23 degrees in Madison, Wisconsin, Saturday, Jan. 26, was the coldest morning there since Feb. 3, 1996. Madison was even colder Wednesday, Jan. 27, and Thursday, Jan. 28, when the low fell to minus 26 degrees.