January 2019 polar vortex cold: Chicago and the Upper Midwest

30–31 January 2019 · Upper Midwest and Great Lakes

Arctic air, widely called the polar vortex cold, brought the lowest temperatures in decades to northern Illinois at the end of January 2019. On 30 January the day's highs around Chicago were set at midnight, and the whole day stayed far below zero.

What happened

  • Chicago O'Hare fell to -23°F on 30 January, the coldest in Chicago in 34 years. [1]
  • Rockford fell to -31°F on 31 January, its all-time record low. [1]
  • Wind chills reached -52°F at O'Hare and -56°F at DeKalb on 30 January. [1]
  • High temperatures on 30 January were in the negative double digits. [1]

Deaths

No official death toll for this storm was found in NWS or NOAA summaries, so none is given here. News counts differ and are not repeated.

Power outages

The official summaries used here give no power outage count for this storm.

States named in the sources used here: Illinois, Indiana.

Questions

When was the January 2019 polar vortex cold?

30–31 January 2019, across: Upper Midwest and Great Lakes.

How many people died?

No official death toll for this storm was found in NWS or NOAA summaries, so this page does not give one. News counts differ and are not repeated here.

Sources

  1. NWS Chicago: "Record Cold, January 30-31, 2019"

US government sources are public domain. Figures are quoted as the sources give them; this site has not added to or adjusted them.

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