A cold spell hit the region to start the New Year with temperatures below zero (F) for several days and extremely low wind chills at times. It was the coldest first few days of a January since 1979 and one of the coldest starts to the new year in history with average temperatures below zero.
Every event with a place to put it; 7 filed by county or forecast zone are drawn at its center, in a lighter ring. Tap one for its entry below.
Deaths and injuries are direct and indirect together, as the offices filed them. Damage is property and crops in the dollars of the year, not adjusted for inflation, and only where an office estimated it.
The episode as NWS ARX wrote it up.
A cold spell hit the region to start the New Year with temperatures below zero (F) for several days and extremely low wind chills at times. It was the coldest first few days of a January since 1979 and one of the coldest starts to the new year in history with average temperatures below zero. Wind chills were well below -30 on January 2nd.
The local office's own words before the first event, as it sent them, from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service text.
NWS La Crosse, WI wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Dec 31, 3:02 PM CST, 8 hours 58 minutes earlier.
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</html>The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
4 extreme cold/wind chill, 3 cold/wind chill. Local standard time, as filed.
A wind chill value of -41 was recorded in the West Concord area on January 2nd.
A wind chill of -38 was reached during the morning hours of January 2nd. The high temperature on January 3rd was only zero and lows were -25 on both January 3rd and January 4th during this stretch.
A wind chill of 37 below was recorded by the automated weather station at Austin on January 2nd. Low temperatures were down around -20 for several days and highs never reached zero on January 3rd, 4th, or 5th.
Wind chill values were at the lowest on January 2nd when a value of -36 was reached. It was the 4th coldest start to a new year on record with lows from -11 to -19 each day and a high temperature of only 6 below on January 2nd.
Low temperatures at Caledonia hit -17 on both January 3rd and January 4th.
Low temperatures were -17 on both January 3rd and January 4th.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Minnesota in 2010Every state in 2010This day in weather historyWarnings in Minnesota, January 2010
NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database, compiled from the National Weather Service’s monthly Storm Data. Complete through 2026-06; NCEI adds each month about 75 days after it ends and revises past years a few times a year. Rebuilt 2026-10-01. Each event’s entry at NCEI: 205951, 205952, 205953, 205954, 205955, 205956, 205957.