Extreme Cold in Nebraska, January 20 to 21, 2025

Name: Extreme Cold in Nebraska, January 20 to 21, 2025
Start: 2025-01-20T02:00
End: 2025-01-21T07:00
Location: Nebraska

January 20 to 21, 2025 · NWS LBF · 10 events in 10 counties and zones

Where it happened

Every event with a place to put it; 10 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: 10

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 LBF wrote it up.

An arctic airmass brought bitter cold temperatures as cold as 10 below to 19 below zero and dangerous wind chills from 30 below to 39 below zero to portions of north central Nebraska and the western Sandhills. Strong northwesterly winds as high as 25 to 40 mph occurred during the morning into the afternoon hours on January 20th, diminished to a light west to southwest wind during the evening hours into the early morning hours on January 21st. The winds combined to produce a long duration of dangerous wind chills beginning during the morning hours January 20th through the early morning hours on January 21st. The lowest wind chill values from 30 below to 39 below began during the morning hours on January 20th into the early morning hours on January 21st.

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 North Platte, NE wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Jan 19, 10:20 PM MST, 3 hours 40 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Jan 19, 10:20 PM MST, 3 hours 40 minutes before

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Hazardous weather outlook, Jan 19, 2:00 PM MST, 12 hours 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

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

Extreme Cold/Wind Chill, Sheridan

When: January 20, 2:00 AM MST to January 21, 7:00 AM MST
Where: Sheridan forecast zone
Reported by: AWOS
Coordinates: 42.505, -102.409 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Across Sheridan County, dangerous wind chill values of 30 below or colder began during the early morning hours on January 20th through the early morning hours on January 21st. Northwesterly winds of 20 to 30 mph during the morning hours on January 20th produced wind chill values as low as 20 to 30 below. As wind diminished to light west to southwest and temperatures fell to 10 to 20 below zero, the winds combined to produce a lowest wind chill of of 31 below zero at the Gordon AWOS at 1215 am MST on January 21st.

Extreme Cold/Wind Chill, Garden

When: January 20, 2:00 AM MST to January 21, 7:00 AM MST
Where: Garden forecast zone
Reported by: ASOS
Coordinates: 41.619, -102.335 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Across Garden County, dangerous wind chill values of 30 below or colder began during the early morning hours on January 20th through the early morning hours on January 21st. Northwesterly winds of 20 to 30 mph during the early morning hours on January 20th produced wind chill values as low as 35 below. As wind diminished to light west to southwest and temperatures fell to 10 to 20 below, the winds combined to produce a lowest wind chill of of 39 below zero at the nearby Alliance ASOS 1000 pm MST on January 20th.

Extreme Cold/Wind Chill, Grant

When: January 20, 2:00 AM MST to January 21, 7:00 AM MST
Where: Grant forecast zone
Reported by: ASOS
Coordinates: 41.915, -101.740 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Across Grant County, dangerous wind chill values of 30 below or colder began during the early morning hours on January 20th through the early morning hours on January 21st. Northwesterly winds of 20 to 30 mph during the early morning hours on January 20th produced wind chill values as low as 35 below. As wind diminished to light west to southwest and temperatures fell to 10 to 20 below, the winds combined to produce a lowest wind chill of of 39 below zero at the nearby Alliance ASOS 1000 pm MST on January 20th.

Extreme Cold/Wind Chill, Eastern Cherry

When: January 20, 6:00 AM CST to January 21, 7:00 AM CST
Where: Eastern Cherry forecast zone
Reported by: ASOS
Coordinates: 42.545, -101.119 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Across eastern Cherry County, dangerous wind chill values of 30 below or colder began during the morning hours on January 20th through the early morning hours on January 21st. Northwesterly winds as high as 25 to 40 mph during the morning into the afternoon hours on January 20th produced wind chill values as low as 32 below. As wind diminished to light west to southwest and temperatures fell to 10 to 20 below zero, the winds combined to produce a lowest wind chill of of 35 below zero at 1252 am CST January 21st at the Valentine ASOS.

Extreme Cold/Wind Chill, Western Cherry

When: January 20, 6:00 AM MST to January 21, 7:00 AM MST
Where: Western Cherry forecast zone
Reported by: ASOS
Coordinates: 42.545, -101.119 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Across western Cherry County, dangerous wind chill values of 30 below or colder began during the morning hours on January 20th through the early morning hours on January 21st. Northwesterly winds of 20 to 30 mph during the morning into the afternoon hours on January 20th produced wind chill values as low as 32 below. As wind diminished to light west to southwest and temperatures fell to 10 to 20 below zero, the winds combined to produce a lowest wind chill of of 35 below zero at 1152 pm MST January 20th at the nearby Valentine ASOS.

Extreme Cold/Wind Chill, Deuel

When: January 20, 6:00 AM MST to January 21, 7:00 AM MST
Where: Deuel forecast zone
Reported by: ASOS
Coordinates: 41.112, -102.334 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Across Deuel County, dangerous wind chill values of 30 below or colder began during the morning hours on January 20th through the early hours on January 21st. Northwesterly winds of 20 to 30 mph during the morning hours on January 20th produced wind chill values as low as 30 below. As wind diminished to light west to southwest and temperatures fell to 10 to 15 below zero, the winds combined to produce a lowest wind chill of of 31 below zero at the nearby Sidney ASOS at 900 PM and 1000 pm MST on January 20st.

Extreme Cold/Wind Chill, Blaine

When: January 20, 6:00 PM CST to January 21, 7:00 AM CST
Where: Blaine forecast zone
Reported by: Mesonet
Coordinates: 41.913, -99.977 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Across Blaine County, dangerous wind chill values of 30 below or colder began during the evening hours on January 20th through the early morning hours on January 21st. As winds diminished to light southwest and temperatures fell to 10 to 15 below zero, the winds combined to produce a lowest wind chill of of 39 below zero at 1234 am CST January 21st at a mesonet site near Brewster.

Extreme Cold/Wind Chill, Thomas

When: January 20, 6:00 PM CST to January 21, 7:00 AM CST
Where: Thomas forecast zone
Reported by: Mesonet
Coordinates: 41.914, -100.556 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Across Thomas County, dangerous wind chill values of 30 below or colder began during the evening hours on January 20th through the early morning hours on January 21st. As winds diminished to light southwest and temperatures fell to 10 to 15 below zero, the winds combined to produce a lowest wind chill of of 38 below zero at 153 am CST January 21st at a mesonet site located 13 miles south of Thedford.

Extreme Cold/Wind Chill, Perkins

When: January 20, 6:00 PM MST to January 21, 3:00 AM MST
Where: Perkins forecast zone
Reported by: AWOS
Coordinates: 40.851, -101.650 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Across Perkins County, dangerous wind chill values as low as 30 below zero or colder began during the evening hours on January 20th through the early hours on January 21st. Light southwest and temperatures 10 to 15 below zero, combined to produce a lowest wind chill of of 32 below zero at the Grant AWOS at 1115 pm MST on January 20st.

Extreme Cold/Wind Chill, Hooker

When: January 20, 6:00 PM MST to January 21, 7:00 AM MST
Where: Hooker forecast zone
Reported by: Mesonet
Coordinates: 41.916, -101.135 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Across Hooker County, dangerous wind chill values of 30 below or colder began during the evening hours on January 20th through the early morning hours on January 21st. As winds diminished to light southwest and temperatures fell to 10 to 15 below zero, the winds combined to produce a lowest wind chill of of 38 below zero at 153 am CST January 21st at a nearby mesonet site located 13 miles south of Thedford.

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

Every storm in Nebraska in 2025 Every state in 2025 This day in weather history Warnings in Nebraska, January 2025

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: 1242032, 1242049, 1242117, 1242036, 1242034, 1242050, 1242037, 1242116, 1242111, 1242118.