Extreme Cold/Wind Chill in Colorado
Every extreme cold/wind chill event the National Weather Service has filed in Colorado, year by year, with the most significant episodes. Temperatures or wind chills at or below the local warning criteria, or cold that caused deaths.
The most significant on the map
The most significant extreme cold/wind chill episodes in Colorado.
- Tornadoes
- Tropical storms and surge
- Floods
- Wind
- Hail
- Winter weather
- Heat and drought
- Cold
- Fire, smoke and dust
- Marine and coastal
- Other
The record
- Events
- 290
- Deaths
- 0
- Injuries
- 0
- Damage
- $250,000
Every year
The most significant
Ranked by deaths, injuries, damage and size together.
- Excessive Heat and Extreme Cold in Colorado, January 17 to 22, 2025A cold front ushered in an arctic airmass on the evening of January 17th, as well as bringing widespread wind and snow to eastern Utah and western Colorado.
- Extreme Cold in Colorado, June 14, 2001An unseasonably cold high pressure system settled over the Great Basin bringing a hard freeze to portions of southwest Colorado.
- Extreme Cold in Colorado, January 22 to 24, 2025A cold front ushered in an arctic airmass on the evening of January 17th, as well as bringing widespread wind and snow to eastern Utah and western Colorado.
- Extreme Cold and Winter Weather in Colorado, January 17 to 21, 2025An arctic cold front brought cold temperatures and snowfall to the area beginning late on the 17th and continuing into the 18th. The snowfall and cold temperatures led to snow covered roads.
- Winter Storm and Extreme Cold in Colorado, February 22 to 23, 2023Bands of moderate to heavy snow showers coupled with strong winds produced poor visibilities and hazardous driving conditions in the mountains. Snow squalls impacts parts of the Interstate 70 corridor west of the Eisenhower Tunnel, as well as State Highway 40 west of Kremmeling.
- Winter Storm and Extreme Cold in Colorado, January 11 to 16, 2024A long duration mountain snowfall event occurred over the course of the Martin Luther King weekend, with several feet of snow. Most SNOTEL sites picked up an estimated 2 to 4 feet of snow.
- Winter Storm and Extreme Cold in Colorado, February 1 to 2, 2011A Pacific low pressure system moved eastward across the area and produced significant snowfall in the mountains and some lower elevation areas of western Colorado.
- Extreme Cold in Colorado, December 22 to 23, 2022A strong cold front moved across the area during the evening hours, bringing with it a brief period of snowfall, gusty northerly winds, and frigid temperatures. Snowfall amounts generally stayed light, in the two to four inch range.
- Dust Storm and Extreme Cold in Colorado, December 21 to 23, 2022A dust storm was reported north-northeast of Kit Carson as an arctic cold front moved through. Behind the arctic air mass, wind gusts of 20-35 MPH gusts and temperatures falling to the teens below zero, moved over East Central Colorado.
- Extreme Cold in Colorado, December 9, 2009Wind chill values of -25 to -30 Fahrenheit were common on the morning of the 9th across all of northwest Kansas, southwest Nebraska and eastern Colorado. Air temperatures of -5 to -15 F combined with north winds to produce dangerously low wind chill readings.
- Extreme Cold in Colorado, February 1 to 4, 2011A frigid Arctic airmass settled into the Front Range Urban Corridor to start out the month. At Denver International Airport overnight low temperatures on the 1st through the 3rd were 13 below zero, 17 below zero and zero respectively.
- Extreme Cold in Colorado, December 30 to 31, 2014Temperatures in the single digits to teens below zero, along with wind speeds of 10-15 MPH, lead to wind chills falling to -25F or lower during the evening through the next morning.
- Extreme Cold in Colorado, December 17 to 18, 2016An arctic air mass, combined with up to two inches of snow and light to breezy winds, led to wind chills of -25F to -42F during the afternoon of the 17th and into the morning of the 18th. The coldest wind chill was reported near Idalia.
- Extreme Cold and Heavy Snow in Colorado, March 2 to 4, 2019During the afternoon and evening of the 2nd, snow moved in from the west. Through the night snow expanded in coverage, with a more intense band of snow extending west to east across the southern half of Yuma County.
- Extreme Cold in Colorado, February 13 to 16, 2021An arctic air mass moved into east-central Colorado and resided in the area for several days. Wind chills warmed during the daytime before dropping to or below Wind Chill Warning criteria during the night.
- Extreme Cold in Colorado, January 30 to 31, 2023On the evening of January 30th and lasting into the morning of January 31st, portions of East-Central Colorado saw cold temperatures as low as -14 degrees Fahrenheit and westerly winds gusting up to 11 mph.
- Extreme Cold in Colorado, February 9, 2011An Arctic high pressure area swept into the Tri-State area behind the winter storm on February 8th. The combination of cold air temperatures and strong wind resulted in wind chill values between 25 and 30 degrees below zero Fahrenheit.
- Extreme Cold in Colorado, February 4 to 5, 2014During the overnight and morning hours the arctic air mass over the area combined with a recent snow pack, caused temperatures to fall into the teens below zero.
- Extreme Cold in Colorado, December 17, 2016During the early morning wind chills across Yuma and Kit Carson counties approached 30 below zero. The coldest wind chill was reported near Yuma of 26 below zero. Wind chills warmed before the late morning.
- Extreme Cold in Colorado, February 22, 2022On the morning of February 22nd, an arctic airmass moved into east-central Colorado with breezy northerly winds following a cold front passage in the previous day. Wind chills values as low as -28 degrees Fahrenheit were recorded in the region.
- Extreme Cold in Colorado, February 7, 2014Early morning temperatures fell to around -12F, with light winds around 5 MPH causing wind chills to fall to -25F for parts of Yuma county.
- Extreme Cold in Colorado, February 7, 2019Wind chills fell to 26 degrees below zero in Yuma County during the morning.
- Extreme Cold in Colorado, January 27, 2021Arctic air moved into the High Plains following a winter weather system that brought up to 8.5 inches of snow to northeast Colorado over a span of three days.
- Extreme Cold in Colorado, February 23, 2022On the morning of February 23rd, an arctic airmass continued to reside over east-central Colorado with east-northeasterly winds for the second day. Wind chills values as low as -25 degrees Fahrenheit were recorded in the region.
More
Extreme Cold/Wind Chill everywhereEvery kind of event in Colorado
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 2026-09-24.