Cold in Wisconsin, January 5, 1999

The combination of an arctic high pressure ridge, a fresh, deep snowcover, clear skies, and light winds allowed temperatures to plunge to well below zero across southcentral and southeast Wisconsin. Several new low temperatures records were set: -23 at Janesville (Rock Co.), breaking the old daily record of -19 set back in 1998, and -20 in the city of Kenosha. Baraboo (Sauk Co.) was the coldest in the state with a -32, while Monroe (Green Co.) dropped to -26. Other observed minimums...Portage (Columbia Co.) -24, Stoughton (Dane Co.) -23, Ft. Atkinson (Jefferson Co.) -21, Germantown (Washington Co.) -21, Madison (Dane Co.) -20, Kenosha (Kenosha Co.) -20, Union Grove (Racine Co.) -20 , Watertown and Lake Mills (Jefferson Co.) -20, Waukesha (Waukesha Co.) -19, Beloit (Rock Co.) -19, Wisconsin Dells (Columbia Co.) -17, Racine (Racine co.) -16, Fond du Lac (Fond du Lac co.) -15, and Milwaukee (Milwaukee Co.) -15. Thousands of calls to local AAA and car service centers were logged due to stalled vehicles. Maximum temperatures were only around zero. This was the coldest weather observed since February 1996 in southcentral and southeast Wisconsin.