Minnesota, 2024

Extreme Cold in Minnesota, December 11 to 12, 2024

December 11 to 12, 2024 · NWS FGF · 3 events in 3 counties and zones

Wind chills fell into the 40s below zero on the 11th and 12th of December in response to a strong Arctic high settling in over the region.

Where it happened

Every event with a place to put it; 3 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
3

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 FGF wrote it up.

Wind chills fell into the 40s below zero on the 11th and 12th of December in response to a strong Arctic high settling in over the region.

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 Grand Forks, ND wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Dec 11, 2:30 PM CST, 3 hours 30 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Dec 11, 2:30 PM CST, 3 hours 30 minutes before
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Hazardous weather outlook, Dec 11, 3:17 PM CST, 2 hours 43 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

3 extreme cold/wind chill. Local standard time, as filed.

Extreme Cold/Wind Chill, East Marshall

When
December 11, 6:00 PM CST to December 12, 8:00 AM CST
Where
East Marshall forecast zone
Reported by
Mesonet
Coordinates
48.358, -96.368 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Gatzke MN DOT sensor measured wind chill of -43F.

Extreme Cold/Wind Chill, Roseau

When
December 11, 6:00 PM CST to December 12, 8:00 AM CST
Where
Roseau forecast zone
Reported by
Mesonet
Coordinates
48.775, -95.811 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Multiple AWOS and MN DOT sensors measured wind chills between -40F and -46F across Roseau Co the lowest of which was the MN DOT sensor near Badger at -46F.

Extreme Cold/Wind Chill, Lake of the Woods

When
December 11, 6:00 PM CST to December 12, 8:00 AM CST
Where
Lake of the Woods forecast zone
Reported by
Mesonet
Coordinates
48.771, -94.905 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Wind chills measured at -42F and -43F in Williams and Roosevelt at MN DOT sensor.

What these are

Extreme Cold/Wind Chill
Temperatures or wind chills at or below the local warning criteria, or cold that caused deaths.

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

The same day elsewhere

More

Every storm in Minnesota in 2024Every state in 2024This day in weather historyWarnings in Minnesota, December 2024

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: 1229847, 1229848, 1229849.