The coldest air of the season dove south and encased north central Kansas in a wintry icebox of extreme cold, wind and light snow. This entry focuses more on the extreme cold/wind chill than the snow.
Every event with a place to put it; 6 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 GID wrote it up.
The coldest air of the season dove south and encased north central Kansas in a wintry icebox of extreme cold, wind and light snow. This entry focuses more on the extreme cold/wind chill than the snow. For more detailed impacts of snow, see the Winter Weather event entry dated February 17-18.
A strong 1044 MB surface high pressure system settled across the Central Plains and brought not only a blanket of light snow to the region, but also bitterly cold temperatures and wind chills. Temperatures began to drop on the 17th and 18th, which lead to the two coldest mornings of the winter season on February 19th and 20th. On the morning of the 19th, actual air temperatures dropped to -15 at Webster Dam and -7 at Smith Center, as well as near Plainville and Alton. During the day on the 19th, high temperatures only rose to around zero degrees, but that only set the stage for the coldest night of the winter. Low temperatures by dawn on the 20th generally ranged from -15 to -20 across north central Kansas. The coldest temperatures recorded were 2 miles southwest of Alton and 4 miles south of Burr Oak, both with a frigid -20. Kirwin Dam (-19) and Smith Center (-18) weren’t too far behind.
The kicker to the cold was the wind. A steady north wind of 15 to 20 mph with gusts over 25 mph sent wind chills to dangerously cold levels. Wind chills of -15 to -30 were common the night of February 18th. As even colder moved in the next night, wind chills dropped to as low as -38 at the Smith Center Airport and -36 at the Phillipsburg Airport and near Kirwin. Those dangerously cold wind chills linger through the morning hours of the 20th.
No location was spared the extreme cold. Nearly every school in north central Kansas cancelled classes due to the cold weather on the 19th and 20th. Many local activities and events were also canceled or postponed.
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 Hastings, NE wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Feb 17, 5:40 PM CST, 20 minutes earlier.
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</html>Hazardous Weather Outlook National Weather Service Hastings NE 238 PM CST Mon Feb 17 2025 KSZ005>007-017>019-NEZ039>041-046>049-060>064-072>077-082>087- 181200- Phillips-Smith-Jewell-Rooks-Osborne-Mitchell-Valley-Greeley-Nance- Sherman-Howard-Merrick-Polk-Dawson-Buffalo-Hall-Hamilton-York- Gosper-Phelps-Kearney-Adams-Clay-Fillmore-Furnas-Harlan-Franklin- Webster-Nuckolls-Thayer- 238 PM CST Mon Feb 17 2025 This Hazardous Weather Outlook is for south central Nebraska and portions of north central Kansas. .DAY ONE...This Afternoon and Tonight. Areas of light to at times moderate snow will persist across much of the outlook area through tonight. Bitterly cold air building into the area will result in widespread wind chill values of -20 to -30 degrees tonight. A Winter Weather Advisory and Extreme Cold Warning remain in effect through tonight. Please refer to the latest Advisory and Warning statements for more information. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...Tuesday through Sunday. Light to moderate snow will continue through Tuesday. Widespread storm total accumulations of 2 to 5 inches are expected by Tuesday evening, with lowest amounts northeast of the Tri-Cities, and heaviest amounts, perhaps locally as high as 5 to 6 inches, along and south of the state line. A Winter Weather Advisory remains in effect through 6PM Tuesday, please refer to the latest Advisory statement for more information Prolonged dangerously cold air and wind chill temperatures will persist through much of the upcoming week. Wind chills of -10 to -30 degrees are expected during the entire time frame from Tuesday through Thursday morning, and an Extreme Cold Warning remains in effect for the entire forecast area. Please refer to the latest Warning statement for more information. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... Spotters are encouraged to report hazardous travel conditions and snowfall amounts. && More information may be obtained at the following web page: https://www.weather.gov/hastings
The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
6 extreme cold/wind chill. Local standard time, as filed.
A few of the coldest wind chills of the event were recorded across the county, including -36 degrees by the Phillipsburg Airport AWOS.
A few of the coldest wind chills of the event were recorded across the county, including -38 degrees by the Smith Center Airport AWOS.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Kansas in 2025Every state in 2025This day in weather historyWarnings in Kansas, February 2025
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: 1241186, 1241187, 1241188, 1241189, 1241190, 1241191.