Kansas, 2022

Extreme Cold and Winter Weather in Kansas, December 21 to 23, 2022

December 21 to 23, 2022 · NWS GLD · 15 events in 13 counties and zones

An arctic air mass, with wind gusts of 20-45 MPH and temperatures in the teens below zero, produced wind chills as low as -49F in the worst of the cold. During the evening of the 21st a band of heavy snowfall moved over Rawlins and Sherman counties.

Where it happened

Every event with a place to put it; 15 filed by county or forecast zone are drawn at its center, in a lighter ring. Tap one for its entry below.

  • Tornadoes
  • Tropical storms and surge
  • Floods
  • Wind
  • Hail
  • Winter weather
  • Heat and drought
  • Cold
  • Fire, smoke and dust
  • Marine and coastal
  • Other

Open the live radar over this ground

The toll

Deaths
0
Injuries
0
Property damage
None recorded
Crop damage
None recorded
Events
15

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.

What happened

The episode as NWS GLD wrote it up.

An arctic air mass, with wind gusts of 20-45 MPH and temperatures in the teens below zero, produced wind chills as low as -49F in the worst of the cold.

During the evening of the 21st a band of heavy snowfall moved over Rawlins and Sherman counties. Wind gusts of 25-35 MPH combined with the heavy snow to reduce visibilities to a quarter mile or less. An estimated two to three inches of snow fell as the band moved through.

What forecasters said that day

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 Goodland, KS wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Dec 20, 5:55 PM CST, 22 hours 5 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Dec 20, 5:55 PM CST, 22 hours 5 minutes before
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The radar

The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.

Open the radar archive at this moment

Event by event

13 extreme cold/wind chill, 2 winter weather. Local standard time, as filed.

Extreme Cold/Wind Chill, Cheyenne

When
December 21, 4:00 PM CST to December 23, 9:00 AM CST
Where
Cheyenne forecast zone
Reported by
Mesonet
Coordinates
39.786, -101.731 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Wind chills of -25F to -42F were reported across the county.

Key impacts: wind chill, frostbite, extreme cold.

Extreme Cold/Wind Chill, Rawlins

When
December 21, 4:00 PM CST to December 23, 9:00 AM CST
Where
Rawlins forecast zone
Reported by
Mesonet
Coordinates
39.785, -101.076 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Wind chills of -25F to -42F were reported across the county.

Key impacts: wind chill, frostbite, extreme cold.

Extreme Cold/Wind Chill, Decatur

When
December 21, 5:00 PM CST to December 23, 9:00 AM CST
Where
Decatur forecast zone
Reported by
Mesonet
Coordinates
39.785, -100.460 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Wind chills of -25F to -44F were reported across the county.

Key impacts: wind chill, frostbite, extreme cold.

Extreme Cold/Wind Chill, Norton

When
December 21, 5:00 PM CST to December 23, 9:00 AM CST
Where
Norton forecast zone
Reported by
Mesonet
Coordinates
39.784, -99.903 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Wind chills of -25F to -40F were reported across the county.

Key impacts: wind chill, frostbite, extreme cold.

Extreme Cold/Wind Chill, Sherman

When
December 21, 4:00 PM MST to December 23, 8:00 AM MST
Where
Sherman forecast zone
Reported by
Mesonet
Coordinates
39.351, -101.720 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Wind chills of -25F to -44F were reported across the county.

Key impacts: wind chill, frostbite, extreme cold.

Extreme Cold/Wind Chill, Thomas

When
December 21, 5:00 PM CST to December 23, 9:00 AM CST
Where
Thomas forecast zone
Reported by
Mesonet
Coordinates
39.351, -101.055 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Wind chills of -25F to -45F were reported across the county.

Key impacts: wind chill, frostbite, extreme cold.

Extreme Cold/Wind Chill, Sheridan

When
December 21, 5:00 PM CST to December 23, 9:00 AM CST
Where
Sheridan forecast zone
Reported by
Mesonet
Coordinates
39.350, -100.442 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Wind chills of -25F to -49F were reported across the county.

Key impacts: wind chill, frostbite, extreme cold.

Extreme Cold/Wind Chill, Graham

When
December 21, 6:00 PM CST to December 23, 9:00 AM CST
Where
Graham forecast zone
Reported by
Mesonet
Coordinates
39.350, -99.883 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Wind chills of -25F to -38F were reported across the county.

Key impacts: wind chill, frostbite, extreme cold.

Extreme Cold/Wind Chill, Logan

When
December 21, 6:00 PM CST to December 23, 9:00 AM CST
Where
Logan forecast zone
Reported by
Mesonet
Coordinates
38.917, -101.148 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Wind chills of -25F to -43F were reported across the county.

Key impacts: wind chill, frostbite, extreme cold.

Extreme Cold/Wind Chill, Gove

When
December 21, 6:00 PM CST to December 23, 9:00 AM CST
Where
Gove forecast zone
Reported by
Mesonet
Coordinates
38.916, -100.483 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Wind chills of -25F to -44F were reported across the county.

Key impacts: wind chill, frostbite, extreme cold.

Extreme Cold/Wind Chill, Wallace

When
December 21, 6:00 PM MST to December 23, 8:00 AM MST
Where
Wallace forecast zone
Reported by
Mesonet
Coordinates
38.917, -101.764 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Wind chills of -25F to -44F were reported across the county.

Key impacts: wind chill, frostbite, extreme cold.

Extreme Cold/Wind Chill, Wichita

When
December 21, 7:00 PM CST to December 23, 9:00 AM CST
Where
Wichita forecast zone
Reported by
Mesonet
Coordinates
38.482, -101.347 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Wind chills of -25F to -41F were reported across the county.

Key impacts: wind chill, frostbite, extreme cold.

Extreme Cold/Wind Chill, Greeley

When
December 21, 7:00 PM MST to December 23, 8:00 AM MST
Where
Greeley forecast zone
Reported by
Mesonet
Coordinates
38.481, -101.806 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Wind chills of -25F to -38F were reported across the county.

Key impacts: wind chill, frostbite, extreme cold.

Winter Weather, Rawlins

When
December 21, 10:30 PM CST to December 22, 12:15 AM CST
Where
Rawlins forecast zone
Reported by
Social Media
Coordinates
39.785, -101.076 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Snow is reported to be blowing sideways with visibility of a quarter mile in Atwood.

Key impacts: limited visibility, blowing snow.

Winter Weather, Sherman

When
December 21, 9:45 PM MST to December 22, 1:00 AM MST
Where
Sherman forecast zone
Reported by
NWS Employee
Coordinates
39.351, -101.720 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Visibility around a quarter mile was reported at the weather office in Goodland under the band of heavy snowfall.

Key impacts: limited visibility, blowing snow.

What these are

Extreme Cold/Wind Chill
Temperatures or wind chills at or below the local warning criteria, or cold that caused deaths.
Winter Weather
Snow, sleet or freezing rain below warning levels that still caused disruption, damage or casualties.

After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.

The same day elsewhere

More

Every storm in Kansas in 2022Every state in 2022This day in weather historyWarnings in Kansas, December 2022

Sources

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: 1072507, 1072508, 1072509, 1072510, 1072511, 1072512, 1072513, 1072514, 1072516, 1072517, 1072515, 1072519, 1072518, 1073151, 1073152.